The UKGC is Making Progress on Gambling Provisions

17.04.2020, 13:21

In October of 2019, Neil McArthur, who is the United Kingdom Gambling Commission’s chief executive, unveiled a new approach to protect consumers from gambling-related harm. At this point in time, the UKGC declared that it would implement a customer-centric approach regarding responsible advertising.

In January of 2020, the UKGC created trial groups lead by senior experts within the online gambling sector. These groups contained over 30 casino operators and collaborated with the Betting and Gaming Council in order to run workshops. These workshops were supplemented by people who have experienced gambling addiction firsthand.

After running these workshops, the UKGC has made progress in creating recommendations that will reduce gambling-related harm. The proposals are still under development, but some of the measures could become effective in April. The Commission is undergoing formal consultations to make sure that its framework is updated to account for these modern provisions. That way, all casino licensees under its jurisdiction will be required to comply with the new regulations.

VIP Regulations

The first targeted area is designed to address the existing less-than-ideal practices regarding incentives and treatment of high-spending customers (also known as VIPs). People who are younger than 25 will be prohibited from becoming casino VIP members. In addition to the minimum age limit, venues will be required to conduct thorough checks on all customers before they become eligible as VIPs. The venues’ rewards programs will need to create step-by-step records detailing the criteria used to select VIP members. These records will need to include any related accountability and oversight provisions.

The UKGC is in the process of reviewing the changes that will need to be made to operators’ license conditions and codes of practice. This is on a prioritized timeline, and the Commission is hoping that the VIP measures will be put in place sometime in the next three months. At the start, the Commission will monitor the results of the code’s implementation, before determining if any adjustments need to be made.

Safer Advertising

The next targeted area of improvement is the safer online advertising of gambling-related services. This measure was proposed in order to protect children and vulnerable adults. The UKGC is hoping that new provisions regarding this area can be put in place by July of 2020.

One of these restrictions is the analysis of customer data in order to ensure that advertisements do not target vulnerable people on social media. For instance, somebody who is self-excluded from gambling should not have to see a targeted e-games advertisement when they are scrolling through Facebook. Social media ads will also take the age of the target demographic into account so that nobody under the age of 25 would see gambling-related advertisements.

Another provision is that gambling-related Youtube channels and individual videos should have an age restriction.

In addition to this, the UKGC is going to create a list of commonly searched questions regarding self-exclusion and similar topics, as well as a list of suppression websites. This way, at-risk consumers will have the tools they need to protect themselves.

Operators’ affiliates will have to adhere to a code of conduct regarding third-party advertising. This code will be updated regularly and proactively enforced.

The Safer Advertising Working Group will collaborate with the UKGC in order to create advisory content for consumers. The Working Group will also communicate all relevant changes to stakeholders, and make sure that the involved parties understand that the changes are being made to raise industry standards.

The UKGC admits that online advertising is a sophisticated process and that much of their plans will be dependent on factors out of their control. For instance, social media platforms have their own set of regulations that are not under the UKGC’s jurisdiction. The Commission will do everything possible in order to work cooperatively with these platforms.

Safer Products

The final targeted area is to create a code for developing socially responsible products. For instance, the UKGC is pushing to remove high-intensity game features such as turbo buttons and quick stops. There may also be a minimum slot spin speed of 2.5 seconds.

The UKGC has stated that not enough progress has been made regarding safer products. The Commission will have to continue studying behaviors and demographics in order to understand what game elements are putting players at risk.

The UKGC hopes to publish the code in September of 2020. In order to do that, the Betting and Gaming Council will have to create a test lab to further analyze game features.

What Does the Future Hold?

Neil McArthur has stated that these targeted areas need to be changed rapidly in order to protect people who are affected by the coronavirus. He is adamant that these changes should not take months to implement because they are measures that should have already been industry standards. McArthur called upon operators to make adjustments regarding these new measures, even though official codes have not yet been published. He acknowledged that land-based operators are in a particularly vulnerable situation and may have difficulty implementing some of these changes. However, he applauded that, despite the difficulties, operators are communicating with the UKGC and BGC in order to learn more about these changes. McArthur believes that this is indicative of the gambling industry’s willingness to adjust its practices in a more socially responsible manner. McArthur continued on to say that operators who do not put consumers’ safety first will be targeted for penalization.

The Chairman of the BGC, Brigid Simmonds, is very pleased with the Council’s work on creating socially responsible gaming measures. She believes that, despite some functionality loss, these proposed changes will improve the industry for customers as well as the general UK public. However, she did admit that there was still plenty more work to do.