The British government has unexpectedly altered its stance on gambling regulation. The adage about “too little, too late” couldn’t be more appropriate for the expectations the gambling sector had for the government’s upcoming white paper on gambling law reform.
The UK gambling industry appeared somewhat too complacent over the summer regarding the result of the government’s examination of the legal framework. Concerns about stricter affordability regulations and potential spending caps that could lead to financial ruin seemed to have diminished as the then-minister John Whittingdale appeared to be adopting a more amicable approach to the evidence from the consultation.
With the UK Gambling Commission’s chair Bill Moyes also departing, taking the unfortunate CEO Neil McArthur with him, the crisis seemed to have been avoided.
However, the British government reshuffle has introduced more uncertainty and it’s fair to say that it has thrown the industry off balance once again.
As Dan Waugh of Regulus Partners suggested following the reshuffle, the removal of John Whittingdale and Oliver Dowden (the latter replaced by Nadine Dorries) “was, to put it mildly, unfortunate timing.”
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‘”Despite (Whittingdale’s) political views, he is more qualified than most to provide a professional assessment of gambling regulation. He served on the Gambling Act Review Committee, led the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee review in 2012 and 2013, and was the Culture Secretary from 2015 to 2016.”
The government insisted last week that a white paper on its proposals would be released later this year. However, there are now two concerns. First, further delays may occur as the new minister gets up to speed. Second, the high-level personnel changes may signal a less welcoming attitude towards the industry.
Therefore, this is a good time for the revived cross-party All-Party Parliamentary Group for Betting and Gaming, with Scott Benton, MP for Blackpool South, as the new co-chair, to conduct an inquiry into the competence and effectiveness of the UK Gambling Commission.
Steve Donohoe, an industry consultant and secretary of the APBGG, said this intervention shows that the industry can still count on support from some parts of the House of Commons.
He said, personally, he was “sad” to see Whittingdale leave, but the APPGG’s concerns are more about the recent behavior of the UK Gambling Commission.
The spokesperson stated that the Gaming Authority should be more open about its actions. They claim to be top-notch, but the data we’ve seen from businesses paints a different picture. They’re trying to manage spending, but that’s a matter for the legislature, not an un-elected group.
Spending is a major concern for the industry. Supervisors and lawmakers might oversimplify the issue, resulting in unnecessary limitations on customers.
Companies like TransUnion and Experian have attempted to address this. Now, Charles Cohen, who established Probability and worked at IGT, has launched the Department of Trust. He wants to use open banking to give customers control over their information while allowing businesses to understand if players can manage their gambling.
“We’re using a fire extinguisher when we need a smoke alarm,” he said.
Individuals ought to consider financial capability checks as a standard part of registration, much like providing banking information, identification, and driving credentials.
Cohen stated that companies like Trustly need to persuade legislators and authorities that technology can make financial capability checks work for everyone.
“GeoComply is a good illustration—they educated regulators in the United States,” he remarked. “I believe financial capability is the same.”
He added that he hopes systems like his company’s will make financial capability the norm. “It ends the debate about setting limits for everyone,” he said. “That’s incorrect. No matter what limit you establish, it’s going to be wrong. It causes people to behave in certain ways. It doesn’t solve the issue.”
Donahue is concerned that these new ideas may be too late. He believes the UK Gambling Commission has already gone too far and is establishing financial capability regulations that are overly stringent and difficult to follow without any legal backing.
“We’re very concerned that the UK Gambling Commission—despite stating they no longer wanted to set mandatory loss limits—is compelling operators to adhere to rules without any laws. We are aware that some operators have been instructed to establish limits of £500-£600 per month when they examine people’s accounts.”
Cohen asserted that obligatory loss restrictions “are plainly not a suitable solution and will not rectify the issue.”
“However, if operators were permitted to adopt a suitable risk-oriented strategy, as they already do for anti-money laundering – and now theoretically have access to services like ours – then perhaps we can shift the discussion away from an outright prohibition to a more individualized approach.”
These are just a few of the discussions that the new Culture Secretary, Chris Philp, will be confronting as he assumes the position from Whittingdale. It is anticipated that somewhere within the document there will be a note on what the government’s position should be on affordability checks – and potentially some cautions about regulators exceeding their authority.
Scott Langley has been a reporter since the early 2000s, covering personal finance, athletics and wagering. He has worked for a variety of publications including Investment Week, Bloomberg, Football First, Games Review and Gambling Compliance.
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