UK LEGAL
White Paper reforms – shelved or just delayed?
Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis looks at the progress that’s been made since the previous government published its gambling reform white paper.
I
t’s coming up on 18 months since the publication of the previous government’s white paper: “High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age”. Despite an intention that the main measures would be in force by summer 2024, at this point in time only a few of the reforms have been implemented. Inevitably, the general election in May delayed progress, although the timetable had already slipped.
Labour committed in its manifesto to “reform gambling regulation, strengthening protections”, but the new Labour government has yet to take the steps needed to implement reforms set out in the white paper that require legislation, or put forward alternative proposals. Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission has made progress on some of the changes that were to be implemented through its LCCP, although others have met with delays.
REFORMS BEING PROGRESSED BY THE GAMBLING COMMISSION Progress of the following items is not being hindered by the change of government, although it is clear that the summer 2024 deadline has been missed in most cases.
Financial risk checks
The white paper proposed “light touch checks” at moderate spend levels, which would escalate to more detailed checks for the highest spenders, applying to remote gambling operators only. These reforms were to be implemented by the Gambling Commission in its LCCP, following a consultation. Having completed this consultation exercise, the Commission announced the final
22 OCTOBER 2024 changes to the LCCP in May 2024.
Light touch financial vulnerability checks came into force on 30 August 2024. Remote gambling operators must now complete a check for bankruptcies, country court judgements, debt relief orders and similar in relation to any customer whose deposits minus withdrawals exceeds £500 in a rolling 30-day period, with that threshold reducing to £150 from 28 February 2025. Once a check is completed, the operator must consider the information obtained together with everything they already know about the customer and take proportionate action when any risks are identified. These checks sit alongside existing requirements for customer interaction and notably the Gambling Commission has not stated that they replace the need for affordability assessments. When it comes to the enhanced checks for higher spenders, these remain subject to further consideration by the Commission before they are rolled out. A six to seven-month trial period is underway, during which the largest operators are obtaining risk assessments from credit reference agencies for higher spending customers, but not acting on the information obtained. The purpose of this pilot phase is to test how data sharing of this nature works in practice and how such data can be used by gambling operators. In the meantime, a voluntary code for financial risk assessments at higher spends has been published by the Betting and Gaming Council.
Design of online games
“Making online games safer by design” was a further recommendation of the white paper, aimed
at extending safer game design requirements that currently exist for online slots to other online games. These changes will be implemented by the Gambling Commission through its Remote Technical Standards. Following a consultation, the regulator announced changes that broadly reproduce the game design requirements that have applied to online slots since October 2021, including banning turbo features, auto-play, illusion of false wins and the ability to play simultaneous games are proposed. A minimum game speed, along with requirements for display of net position and time spent playing, are also included in the upcoming changes.
These new standards come into force on 17 January 2025. It is worth noting that the consultation response pointed to the competing priorities for development teams, with the stake cap for online slots expected in September 2025, as a reason to set the implementation date so far in advance. It now seems very likely these game design changes will need to be implemented before the slots stake limit, although it can’t be guaranteed that the government will likewise recognise the need to stagger the two changes.
Direct marketing
The white paper also proposed restrictions on direct marketing to consumers, with this ball also in the Gambling Commission’s court to progress. Following consultation, the regulator set out final proposals in May 2024, which will only apply to remote operators of products other than lotteries. Customers will need to opt-in to all marketing by gambling operators on a ‘per channel’ (phone,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
