17Jan

Raising Standards: Gambling Commission Working Groups

17th January 2020 Michelle French 398

On 2 October 2019, Neil McArthur delivered a speech to CEOs at a breakfast briefing in London in which he looked back at the year, talked about the challenges in the industry and three opportunities to reduce harm:

opportunity 1: game and product design;
opportunity 2: inducements to gambling; and
opportunity 3: advertising technology.

In his speech, he referred to the work of the Gambling Commission’s Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (“ABSG”) and the Digital Advisory Panel (“DAP”), which were tasked with looking at reducing gambling harm online. The Gambling Commission has recently received advice from the ABSG and DAP, which we have reported on separately.

The Gambling Commission announced the formation of three industry working groups:

Safer products: The industry code for responsible product and game design working group: This group is led by SG Gaming and Playtech, and will set out how to produce safer products in the future, techniques to use when designing apps, online games and gaming machine products, the risks associated with each product and mitigation, and a clear explanation of what is unacceptable.
Safer advertising online working group: This group is led by Sky Betting and Gaming, and will consider the opportunities to reduce the amount of advertising seen by children, young people and vulnerable adults, and GambleAware’s recent findings set out in its interim report on gambling adverts online, including social media.
Use of VIP incentives: The incentivisation of high value customers working group: This group is led by GVC and will consider bonuses, hospitality and gifts (particularly for VIPs) are offered in a manner which is consistent with licensing objectives to make gambling fairer, safer and crime free, and identify how existing rules can be strengthened.

All three working groups will work closely with the Betting and Gaming Council.

06Jan

New Year, New LCCP: RET Payments

6th January 2020 Michelle French 355

A new version of Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (“LCCP”) has been published, which came into effect on 1 January 2020.

The main changes relate to social responsibility code provision 3.1.1 and combatting problem gambling. From 1 January 2020, licensees must direct their annual financial contribution for gambling research, prevention and treatment (“RET”) to one or more of the organisations approved by the Gambling Commission.

Licensees must:

make an annual financial RET contribution to each of research, prevention and treatment;
ensure they donate to one or more approved organisations;
ensure they have no connection to the recipient organisation; and
report information accurately in their regulatory return about the destination of their RET contribution and the amount donated (noting it must not include any duplication of data across multiple licences).

The Gambling Commission does not specify the amount which should be contributed as there is, presently, there is no statutory levy.

As of 26 January 2020, the approved list is as follows:

Organisation	Research	Prevention	Treatment
Action on Addiction
Addiction Recovery Agency
Beacon Counselling Trust
GambleAware
GamCare
Gordon Moody
YGAM

The only organisation that meets all three criteria of research, prevention and treatment is GambleAware. Licensees may donate to more than one organisation and, therefore, split their contribution. Organisations will continue to be added to the approved list. There is no cost for working with the Gambling Commission to be added to the approved list.

Licensees are free to donate to other organisations; however, they will not be recognised by the Gambling Commission under the LCCP as RET contributions.

06Jan

The Gambling Act 2005: “Analogue Legislation in a Digital Age”

6th January 2020 Michelle French 352

The Gambling Act 2005, which came into force on 1 September 2007 before the digital development of smart phones, online gambling and social media, sets out how gambling in Great Britain should be regulated and created the Gambling Commission. In 2005, internet usage was approximately 18%. Today, the figure is over 90%. Other than the monumental Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, which implemented a point of consumption licensing, therefore amending section 36, the Gambling Act 2005 has remained largely unchanged since drafted in 2005.

Gambling was the forefront of many party 2019 election manifestos, with the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party all calling for reform of the Gambling Act 2005:

Conservatives pledged to “continue to take action to tackle gambling addiction” and stated that “given how the online world is moving, the Gambling Act is increasingly becoming an analogue law in a digital age.”
Labour pledged that they would “curb gambling advertisements in sport and introduce a new Gambling Act fit for the digital age, establishing gambling limits, a levy for problem gambling funding and mechanisms for consumer compensations.”
Liberal Democrats pledged that they would “introduce further measures to protect individuals, their families and communities from problem gambling.” The party stated that they will “introduce a compulsory levy on gambling companies to fund research, education and treatment of problem gambling, ban the use of credit cards for gambling, restrict gambling advertising and establish a Gambling Ombudsman.”
Scottish National Party pledged that they would “support changes to charity lottery law to reduce bureaucracy, maximise returns to good causes and support a full public health inquiry into gambling related harm.”

The review of the Gambling Act 2005 was confirmed on 19 December 2019 in the Queen’s Speech, when Her Majesty declared “my Ministers will develop legislation to improve internet safety for all… he Government will carry out a review of the Gambling Act, with a focus on tackling issues around online loot boxes and credit card misuse.”

Various parliamentary voices have described the Gambling Act 2005 as “analogue legislation in a digital age”. Perhaps the most critical (or loudest?) voices are those of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Related Harm (“APPG”) which published an interim report in November 2019 on its assessment of the impact of online gambling. The APPG is undertaking evidence sessions, including calling upon the Gambling Commission and the Gambling Minister, to contribute to its final report, which will be published in Spring 2020. Evidence sessions will consider areas such as the age level for purchasing scratch-cards (presently, 16), loot boxes, prize and stake limits, the normalisation of gambling, gambling advertising and the gamblification of sport. The APPG will also include a review of the Gambling Act 2005 in advance of the Government’s review.

The Government review of the Gambling Act 2005 will be published in late 2020.
Additionally, the Social Market Foundation will conduct an independent pre-review report, to be published in Summer 2020, outlining the key priorities which any future review should consider.

03Jan

John Hagan’s Interview @ G2E 2019

3rd January 2020 Harris Hagan 374

Jan Jeffcoat interviews John Hagan at the Play+ Media Booth at Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas on 16 October 2019.