08May

White Paper Series: the White Paper, one year on

8th May 2024 Jessica Wilson 194

It has been one year since the long-awaited White Paper was published on 27 April 2023 – dubbed by Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, as a “key moment” for the industry. The White Paper set out 62 specific policy proposals for the Government, the Gambling Commission, and the gambling industry to take forward in order to implement the reform of gambling regulation.

A lot has changed in the last 12 months, with the opening and closing of several consultations, and Government will begin to implement the main proposals from August 2024.

We recap the journey of the White Paper and consider what will happen next.

The journey so far…

The White Paper was divided into 6 chapters, each setting out a number of proposals. We summarise below the headline proposals within each chapter and the progress made to date.

Chapter 1: Online protections – players and products

Headline proposals included:

New default stake limits for online slot games that will be between £2 and £15 per spin, with greater protections for those aged 18 to 24.

DCMS published its response to its consultation on default stake limits on 23 February 2024, which confirmed the following stake limits would be introduced from September 2024 following secondary legislation:

£5 maximum stake limit per spin for adults aged 25 and above; and
£2 maximum stake limit per spin for young adults aged 18-24.

There will be a minimum six-week transition period for operators to introduce a £5 stake limit for all customers; followed by a further six weeks for the development of any necessary technical solutions before the lower stake limit of £2 for young adults aged 18 to 24 is introduced. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Introduction of “frictionless” financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments at set thresholds to understand if a customer’s gambling is likely to be harmful in the context of their financial circumstances.

This is without doubt the most controversial White Paper proposal. The Gambling Commission opened its consultation on 26 July 2023, proposing (1) light-touch financial vulnerability checks using publicly available data at £125 net loss within a rolling 30-day period or £500 net loss within a rolling 365-day period; and (2) enhanced financial risk assessments at £1,000 net loss within a rolling 24 hours or £2,000 net loss within a rolling 90-day period. The proposals sparked great debate within the industry, resulting in significant pressure on Government and the Gambling Commission, particularly from the horseracing industry.

On 22 February 2024, the Gambling Commission published a blog updating the industry on implementation plans for the proposed financial risk checks. The plans included its intention to implement the proposals via a pilot scheme for enhanced risk checks to enable the Gambling Commission to test the details of data-sharing in practice. In addition, the Gambling Commission confirmed they will initially come into force at a higher threshold, before moving to a lower threshold later in the year. The blog came four days before UK Parliament debated the petition Stop the implementation of betting affordability/financial risk checks, reflecting the mounting pressure Government and the regulator were facing.

On 1 May 2024, the Gambling Commission published its consultation response, confirming the introduction of light-touch financial vulnerability checks, alongside a pilot of enhanced frictionless financial risk assessments, with the latter only being rolled out if the pilot proves the checks can be frictionless.

In summary, the following will be implemented:

Light-touch financial vulnerability checks for customers with a net deposit of more than £150 a month. The checks will involve the assessment of publicly available data. Initially, the checks will come into force at £500 a month from 30 August 2024, to ease introduction, before reducing to £150 a month from 28 February 2025. The proposed £500 annual threshold for these checks will not be implemented, following analysis that 99% of individuals that exceeded that threshold, also exceeded the £150 a month threshold.
A pilot of enhanced financial risk assessments for operators in the three highest bands of fee categories and volunteers in lower fee categories, for a minimum of six months. The pilot will test how frictionless assessments can work in practice and will involve working with credit reference agencies and gambling businesses to assess consumer impact. Data collection will assist in setting financial thresholds at which financial risk assessments should be conducted. It is expected that the pilot will take place between 30 August 2024 and 31 March 2025, with the Gambling Commission having the ability to extend to the end of April 2025 if necessary.

On the same day, the Betting and Gaming Council (“BGC”) published a new Industry Voluntary Code on Customer Checks and Documentation Requests Based on Spend (“Industry Voluntary SR Code”), which will operate as a voluntary interim code to provide consistency across the regulated sector to social responsibility compliance until the financial vulnerability checks and risk assessments are brought into force. The Industry Voluntary SR Code sets out what actions a BGC member must take when customers wish to make net deposits of:

More than £5,000 in a rolling month (£2,500 for 18-24 year olds) – in which case the operator must undertake a financial risk assessment using open source information, information obtained from the customer previously, and financial insights from third parties, escalating to “enhanced consideration” if high-risk activity is identified.
£25,000 in a rolling 12-month period – in which case the operator must undertake “a process of enhanced consideration”.

It is intended that a supplementary BGC code on anti-money laundering checks will also be published to provide similar consistency in respect of anti-money laundering measures. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Amendments to game design rules to bring other game types in line with slots.

The Gambling Commission’s consultation closed on 18 October 2023 and the response was published on 1 May 2024. The changes extend requirements that already apply to slots to other online products. In particular, they ban speed features such as “turbos” or “slam stops”, game cycles of less than 5 seconds on casino products (N.B. the requirement for slots is 2.5 seconds), autoplay functions, celebrations of returns less than or equal to the stake, and the facilitation of playing multiple simultaneous products. The new remote games design rules come into force on 17 January 2025. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Amendments to the Remote Technical Standards to ensure customers can seamlessly use pre-commitment tools e.g. deposit limits.

The aim of the proposals is to ensure customers maintain awareness and control over their gambling. The Gambling Commission’s consultation closed on 21 February 2024 and sought views on minimising friction in the customer journey when choosing customer-led tools, and on a cross-operator deposit limit. At the time of writing, a response is awaited. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Chapter 2: Marketing and advertising

Headline proposals included:

Improving consumer choice on direct marketing by giving them more control over the gambling marketing they wish to receive.

The Gambling Commission’s consultation closed on 18 October 2023 and the response was published on 1 May 2024. Online gambling business will need to provide customers with options to opt-in to the product type (casino, betting and bingo) they are interested in, and the channels through which they wish to receive marketing. Following the consultation, the Commission removed lottery as a product type (and the land-based sector has now been excluded from the requirement) and removed post as a channel for marketing. The new rules come into force on 17 January 2025. However, in order to make customers aware of the preference choices, and so they are not hidden in an email, customers will only be required to re-confirm their marketing preferences the first time they log in after the implementation date. Until then, marketing can continue based on the customer’s prior marketing preferences. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Incentives such as free bets to be constructed in a socially responsible manner.

Proposals include banning or limiting the use of wagering requirements in promotional offers, and banning the mixing of product types. The Gambling Commission’s consultation closed on 21 February 2024. At the time of writing, a response is awaited.

Cross-sport gambling sponsorship code of conduct to be developed, which will guarantee a robust minimum standard, ensuring that gambling sponsorship across all sports is done in a socially responsible manner.

On 13 March 2024, Stuart Andrews MP announced that the code of conduct has been finalised and binds domestic sports governing bodies to four core principles: (1) reinvestment into sport, (2) maintaining sport integrity, (3) protecting children and other vulnerable people, and (4) ensuring socially responsible promotion. Bespoke, sport-specific codes are also being designed by individual governing bodies, and will be published and implemented “in due course”.

Government to work with the Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) and the Gambling Commission to develop systematic safer gambling messaging, independent from industry, to maximise the information available to consumers and enable them to make informed decisions, with a better understanding of the risks.

The DHSC has initialised a review of the evidence around effective public health-led messaging. At the time of writing, a response is awaited.

Chapter 3: The Gambling Commission’s powers and resources

Introduction of a statutory gambling levy.

The statutory levy will fund research, education and treatment of gambling harms and is one of the pillar reforms within the White Paper, replacing the current voluntary system. The statutory levy will provide a sustainable and consistent income stream to support the treatment of gambling-related harms, and create a more equitable approach. DCMS’ consultation closed on 14 December 2023. At the time of writing, a response is awaited. Please see our previous blog for further information. Government confirmed in its response to DCMS’s Second Report (published 19 April 2024) that it will be publishing a response “in the coming weeks”.

Additional Gambling Commission powers, including to tackle the black market.

The Government will introduce new powers for the Gambling Commission so it can more effectively take action against the illegal online gambling market through provisions set out in the Home Office’s Criminal Justice Bill. The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 14 November 2023 and is currently at Commons Report stage. In the meantime, a key commitment in the Gambling Commission’s three year corporate strategy, published on 8 April 2024, is to increase investment, resource and capacity to tackle illegal gambling.

Increased Gambling Commission fees.

DCMS’ consultation is awaited. It is expected that the revised funding system will enable the Gambling Commission to adjust its fees on an annual basis where necessary, increasing or reducing fees as appropriate.

Chapter 4: Dispute resolution and customer redress

Headline proposal:

Appointment of a Gambling Ombudsman.

The White Paper proposed the formation of an independent non-statutory ombudsman to improve consumer protection and ensure fairness for consumers relating to social responsibility complaints. The Gambling Commission expected the Gambling Ombudsman to be accepting complaints within a year of publication of the White Paper, however appointment of a Gambling Ombudsman is yet to take place and seems unlikely to happen any time soon. Please see our blog for further information.

Chapter 5: Children and young adults

The headline proposals relating to children and young adults tie into the proposals in Chapter 1, with separate thresholds (for example) being applied to children and young adults.

Chapter 6: Land-based gambling

Headline proposals included:

Strengthening age verification in land-based premises.

The Gambling Commission’s consultation closed on 18 October 2023 and the response was published on 1 May 2024. New rules will come into force on 30 August 2024 requiring smaller land-based gambling licensees to carry out age verification test purchasing, extending the existing requirements in place for larger land-based gambling licensees. The LCCP will also be updated to confirm that “Think 25” is best practice for land-based premises, replacing “Think 21”. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Introduction of cashless payments on gaming machines.

The DCMS consultation regarding the proposals closed on 4 October 2023. The proposal to remove the current prohibition of cashless payments on gaming machines aims to bring the land-based sector into the digital age. At the time of writing, a consultation response is awaited. Please see our previous blog for further information.

Increasing gaming machine entitlements and relaxing rules relating to table/machine ratios.

The DCMS consultation regarding the proposals closed on 4 October 2023. The proposals aim to address inconsistencies and level the playing field between land-based and online operators, and to allow operators greater commercial flexibility. At the time of writing, a response to the consultation is awaited. Government confirmed in its response to DCMS’s Second Report (published 19 April 2024) that it will be publishing a response “in the coming weeks”.

Consultation progress

The table below provides an overview of consultations launched relevant to the White Paper and their current status.

Consultation	Headline proposals	Status
DCMS Consultation: Stake Limits Opened 26 July 2023	New default stake limits for online slot games.	Closed 4 October 2023 (extended from 20 September 2023) Response published on 23 February 2024. Changes come into force in September 2024.
DCMS Consultation: Land-based measures Opened 26 July 2023	– Changing gaming machine ratios in arcades and bingo halls. – Introduction of cashless payments on gaming machines.	Closed 4 October 2023 Awaiting response
Gambling Commission Summer Consultation Opened 26 July 2023	– Proposed changes to the Remote Technical Standards to bring other game types in line with slots. – Financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments. – Extending the roles required to hold a Personal Management Licence. – Regulatory panel changes (NB. not a proposal in the White Paper. Please see our blog for further information). – Improvements to consumer choice on marketing. – Tightening of age-verification in premises	Closed 18 October 2023 Response published on 1 May 2024. Changes will be implemented for all proposals (except regulatory panels) and will come into force across multiple dates between 30 August 2024 and 28 February 2025.
DCMS Consultation: Statutory Levy Opened 17 October 2023	Proposals for the structure, distribution and governance of the statutory levy.	Closed 14 December 2023 Awaiting response
Gambling Commission Autumn Consultation Opened 29 November 2023	– Amendments to customer-led tools e.g. deposit limits. – Rules around free bets and bonuses. – Changes to regulatory returns reporting. (NB. not a proposal in the White Paper. Please see our blog for further information).	Closed 21 February 2024 On 27 March 2024 the Gambling Commission confirmed it will be introducing a requirement for the submission of quarterly regulatory returns for all licence types, effective from 1 July 2024. Responses are awaited for the other proposals.
Gambling Commission December Consultation Opened 15 December 2023 NB. not related to the White Paper , but includes important proposals alongside other consultations	– Changes to criteria for imposing a financial penalty and penalty calculation methodology. – Changes to financial key event reporting	Closed 15 March 2024 Awaiting response

Other updates

Other updates from the last 12 months include:

23 May 2023 – The Gambling Commission published Evidence Gaps & Priorities, a document outlining current evidence gaps and the Gambling Commission’s approach to address these over the next three years.

19 June 2023 – Gambling Commission published a new hub for operators engaging with third parties.

25 July 2023 – As part of wider work by Government on online advertising and consumer protection, DCMS published its consultation response to the Online Advertising Programme.

14 September 2023 – Gambling Commission Industry Forum established.

23 October 2023 – The Gambling Commission called upon licensees to participate in a user research programme aimed at sharpening the dataset received through regulatory returns.

31 October 2023 – The Gambling Commission’s updated customer interaction guidance came into effect.

14 November 2023 – Criminal Justice Bill (which contains new powers for the Gambling Commission to tackle illegal online gambling) introduced in the House of Commons.

22 November 2023 – The Government published the Autumn Statement 2023, which included proposals to change the structure of remote gambling taxation.

1 December 2023 – The Betting & Gaming Council’s seventh edition of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling Code for Socially Responsible Advertising came into force.

29 February 2024 – Publication of the first wave of the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

11 March 2024 – Gambling Commission Industry Forum members appointed.

27 March 2024 – Quarterly regulatory returns required for all licence types announced, effective 1 July 2024.

1 April 2024 – LCCP GAMSTOP and suicide reporting requirements came into force.

8 April 2024 – Gambling Commission launched its Corporate Strategy for 2024 – 2027.

25 April 2024 – House of Lords debate on the impact of gambling advertising, predicting enhanced pressure for greater change to advertising following the results of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain due to be published in July.

Where are we now?

The White Paper generated a substantial amount of work for all stakeholders, including the Government, the Gambling Commission and the industry. The intention was for the main measures in the White Paper to be in force by Summer 2024 and Government and the Gambling Commission were committed to and focused on implementing the proposals as quickly as possible.

It is clear a lot of work has been done by all parties to advance the White Paper proposals. Days after the one-year anniversary of the White Paper we saw publication of the Gambling Commission’s response to its Summer Consultation, which included next steps on some of the most critical aspects, such as financial vulnerability checks and enhanced risk assessments. The publication of the Industry Voluntary SR Code demonstrates the collaboration between the Gambling Commission and industry and the concerted efforts being made to ease transition during this period of change. However, some targets have been missed, for example the 1-year deadline for appointing the Gambling Ombudsman has now passed.

Whilst many of the critical proposals in the White Paper can be progressed through LCCP changes and voluntary measures, the goal of Summer 2024 now presents a tight timetable in respect of those proposals that require secondary legislation. Regardless, Government still appears to be intent on reaching that goal as it confirmed in its response to DCMS’s Second Report (published 19 April 2024) that it will be publishing responses to DCMS’s consultations on the statutory levy and land-based measures “in the coming weeks”. It also noted that it “remains on track to introduce the statutory levy via secondary legislation this Summer, with levy funding flowing to organisations as soon as possible thereafter”.

Whilst the 2024 General Election appears unlikely to affect the final outcome of the White Paper proposals, particularly as our understanding is that Labour is supportive of the balance of proposals therein, it may delay matters, as gambling is unlikely to be a high priority for any new government.

What can we expect next?

Responses to the following consultations:

DCMS Consultation: Land-based measures (expected in the “coming weeks”).
DCMS Consultation: Statutory Levy (expected in the “coming weeks”)
Remainder of Gambling Commission Autumn Consultation.
Gambling Commission December Consultation.

DCMS consultation on Gambling Commission fees.
Introduction of the statutory levy (expected this Summer).
Government consultation on bringing remote gambling into a single tax structure.
Establishment of Gambling Ombudsman (now behind schedule).
Extension of Gambling Commission powers to tackle illegal gambling.
Government review of the horserace betting levy.
Publication of the second wave and annual report of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

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01May

Gambling Commission publishes Summer 2023 Consultation Response and Betting & Gaming Council announces New Industry Voluntary Code

1st May 2024 Harris Hagan 186

On 1 May 2024, the Gambling Commission published the Response to its Summer 2023 Consultation on Proposed Changes to the LCCP and RTS (the “Summer 2023 Consultation Response”), confirming widespread changes to the rules that regulate licensed gambling operators in Great Britain, including in relation to financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments; remote games design; direct marketing; age verification and personal management licences.

Meanwhile, the Betting & Gaming Council (“BGC”) on the same day published a new Industry Voluntary Code on Customer Checks and Documentation Requests Based on Spend (the “Industry Voluntary SR Code”), which will operate as a voluntary interim code on all aspects of social responsibility (“SR”) measures where, notwithstanding any other regulatory requirement, customer spend is the trigger for action. The purpose is to provide a more consistent approach to SR compliance, specifically customer checks and document requests based on spend until the financial vulnerability checks and the risk assessments described in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response are brought into force. The simultaneous publication is not coincidental as the documents are inextricably linked, as we explain below.

In this blog, we outline the changes proposed in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response and discuss these in the context of the announcement of the Industry Voluntary SR Code.

The Summer 2023 Consultation Response

The Summer 2023 Consultation Response is the second consultation response to be published relating to the reforms outlined in the White Paper (after the Department of Culture Media and Sport published the response to its consultation on stake limits on 23 February 2024 – for further information, please see our blog: White Paper Series: DCMS announces online slots stake limits) – and the first to be published by the Gambling Commission.

The long-awaited response outlines the Gambling Commission’s plans to introduce changes to the rules set out in the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (“LCCP”) and Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (“RTS”) over the course of the next ten months – with changes coming into force in four stages: August 2024, November 2024, January 2025 and February 2025, to ease implementation.

The key changes are outlined below.

Financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments

Changes

The Gambling Commission will introduce light-touch financial vulnerability checks, alongside a pilot of enhanced frictionless financial risk assessments. In line with the Government’s aims in the White Paper, the latter will only be rolled out if the pilot proves the checks can be carried out in a frictionless manner.

The light touch financial vulnerability checks will apply to gambling customers with a net deposit of more than £150 a month. The checks will involve the assessment of publicly available data (i.e. whether the customer is subject to a bankruptcy order, a county court judgment, an individual voluntary arrangement, a high court judgment, administration order or decree, or debt relief order – or equivalent). Following feedback from the industry, the new financial vulnerability checks will not require licensees to consider an individual’s personal details, such as postcode or job title.

With regard to enhanced financial risk assessments, the Gambling Commission will (as was previously announced on the regulator’s blog) carry out a pilot to test how frictionless assessments will work in practice, working with credit reference agencies (including Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) and gambling businesses to examine potential consumer impact. Through data collection, the Commission will also explore the exact financial thresholds at which assessments should be conducted – before they are rolled out in a live environment. It will also consider what actions should be taken while an assessment is taking place; and the validity period of an assessment should a customer meet thresholds again.

It is intended that neither the light-touch financial vulnerability checks nor the enhanced financial risk assessments will affect consumer credit ratings.

Timing

To ease introduction of the light-touch financial vulnerability checks (for both customers and licensees), the new requirements will initially come into force at £500 a month from 30 August 2024 before reducing to £150 a month from 28 February 2025.

The pilot (in which only operators in the three highest bands of operating licence fee categories will be required to be involved, i.e., J1, K1 and L1; alongside volunteers in lower fee categories) will last for a minimum of six months and involve testing data sharing in three stages:

in relation to customer accounts that are not currently active;
in relation to historical data relating to active customers; and
on the first occasion a customer meets a threshold within the pilot period.

It is expected that the pilot will take place between 30 August 2024 and 31 March 2025. However, the Gambling Commission can extend the pilot period to the end of April 2025, should this be necessary for practical reasons.

Relationship with Industry Voluntary SR Code

The publication of the Industry Voluntary SR Code on the same day as the Summer 2023 Consultation Response is no coincidence. It has been developed jointly between BGC members and the Gambling Commission – with the aim of operating as a voluntary interim scheme that will bring consistency across the regulated sector until the frictionless financial risk checks proposed in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response have been developed, tested and implemented.

Specifically, the Industry Voluntary SR Code sets out what actions a BGC member must take when customers wish to make net deposits of:

more than £5,000 in a rolling month – in which case the operator must undertake a risk assessment of the customer to understand their financial situation and assess whether the customer is displaying any indicators of harm. It is intended that this will involve one or more of: a safer gambling interaction; a review of the customer’s affordability based on occupation, industry, job title and salary or savings/assets; a review of open-source information; a review of previous information obtained from the customer; and financial insights from third parties. As a result of the risk assessment, appropriate action must be taken when high risk activity is identified, which may include escalating to “a process of enhanced consideration”, which is similar to an enhanced due diligence check – where comfort cannot be obtained.
£25,000 in any rolling 12-month period – in which case the operator must promptly undertake “a process of enhanced consideration”.

The £5,000 threshold will be halved to £2,500 for 18- to 24-year-olds.

When determining whether a customer has met the relevant threshold, their overall net position can be ‘considered’ over the previous 180 days, which effectively means that recycled winnings within that period may be taken into account.

If risk assessments do not take place (for example, because a customer has not responded to a request for an interaction), the customer should be prevented from exceeding the relevant monthly threshold on deposits. If the customer hits the deposit limit in three consecutive months without a risk assessment taking place, the operator must restrict the customer until the risk assessment has been completed.

The Industry Voluntary SR Code also sets out a non-exhaustive list of examples of actions which could be taken by operators between the threshold for financial vulnerability checks (as mandated in the LCCP) and before the need for “enhanced consideration” as required by the Industry Voluntary SR Code, which include one-way notices and messaging, interactive questionnaires, surveys, PGSI surveys, telephone and live chat interactions, requests to set a deposit limit, and sending an activity statement with acknowledgement required – noting that these actions should not require documentation to be provided by the customer and operators shall be free to select the action that best fits with their current tool kit of interactions and at the threshold optimised for the customer.

BGC members should also note that it is intended that the Industry Voluntary SR Code will be supplemented by a BGC code on anti-money laundering checks (the “Industry Voluntary AML Code”), to provide the same consistency across the sector in respect of AML measures. The Gambling Commission and the BGC are actively working on the Industry Voluntary AML Code.

Insight

The stance taken by the Gambling Commission in relation to light-touch financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments is fortunately, a far cry from what the industry feared when the Summer 2023 Consultation was first published. The Gambling Commission should thus be credited for genuinely listening to all responses to the Summer 2023 Consultation and adopting a sensible pragmatic approach.

Regarding the light-touch financial vulnerability checks, the Gambling Commission has helpfully reduced the range of flags to be taken into consideration and clarified that it does not consider all flags should result in one type of action – giving the example that a county court judgment for a parking ticket should not be treated the same as a bankruptcy. It will be up to licensees to tailor actions to the nature and severity of all indicators of harm for a particular customer. Affected licensees should therefore take steps now to review their existing responsible gambling policies and procedures to determine how, when and why they should be updated to take into account both the light-touch financial vulnerability checks proposed in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response and, if they choose to adopt it, the Industry Voluntary SR Code.

Regarding the pilot for enhanced financial risk assessments, this is an undoubtedly a wise step by the regulator. Without a pilot, there was a significant risk of unintended consequences of the new rules, which may have been irreversibly detrimental for the industry. It is further positive that, in introducing the pilot in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response, the Gambling Commission has reiterated that the financial risk assessments should be frictionless for “the vast majority of customers who undergo them”; apply to “only the highest spending remote gambling accounts”; and “would not be a cap on gambling”. If the Gambling Commission can stay true to these aims, this is good for the remote industry, which has long expressed concern that such checks would encourage gamblers to move to the unregulated black market. One critical aspect of the journey ahead will be interpreting what is meant by “vast majority” in the context of the frictionless nature of enhanced financial risk checks – as we expect the Gambling Commission and the industry may have different views.

We also welcome the Gambling Commission’s confirmation that the new enhanced financial risk check requirements, once determined, will not apply to betting on a track or at local high street betting shops – presumably following extensive lobbying by the industry.

Any operators that are not in the three highest bands of operating licence fee categories but are interested in participating in the pilot scheme can express their interest by emailing [email protected].

Remote games design – reducing intensity and increasing consumer understanding

Changes

New rules will extend requirements that already apply to slots to other online products and will ban:

features which speed up the time for a result to be shown or can give the illusion of control such as ‘turbo’ or ‘slam stops’ (but these changes will not apply to bonus features where no additional stake is wagered, or prohibit “crash games” or “scratch all” features);
game cycles of less than 5 seconds on casino products excluding slots (note that this is double the 2.5 second requirement that currently applies to slots under the RTS);
autoplay – but the ban on autoplay will not prohibit auto-dabbing in bingo or auto-posting of blinds in peer-to-peer poker (NB – three card poker against house would, on the other hand, be caught);
audio or visual celebrations of returns less than or equal to stake – extending an existing requirement that currently only applies in relation to slots;
operator-led functionality which facilitates playing multiple simultaneous products such as roulette and blackjack tables – this requirement will not apply to bingo, virtual betting and peer-to-peer poker.

Further changes include requiring operators to display to consumers in real time their net spend, and time spent gambling.

Timing

The new remote games design rules come into force on 17 January 2025.

Insight

The Gambling Commission has decided to proceed to introduce all the proposals in the Summer 2023 Consultation relating to game design, with only minor amendments to clarify when the new requirements do not apply to specific products. Please see our previous blog for commentary on the original proposals: White Paper Series: Gambling Commission’s remote game design proposals – simply following suit?

Direct marketing

Changes

Online gambling businesses will need to provide customers with options to opt-in to the product type (casino, betting and bingo) they are interested in and the channels (phone, email and text) through which they wish to receive marketing.

Timing

The new direct marketing rules come into force on 17 January 2025. However, customers will only be required to re-confirm their marketing preferences (consistent with the new rules) the first time they log in after the implementation date. Until then, marketing can continue based on the customer’s prior marketing preferences.

Insight

Notably, the Gambling Commission has, following feedback, removed:

lottery as a product type (following concerns raised about the lottery sector’s ability to rely on legitimate interests for wider fundraising activities); and
post as a channel for marketing (on the basis that this goes further than existing requirements under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).

It is also positive that licensees will be permitted to rely on previously indicated marketing preferences until the next time a customer logs into their online account – however, we query from a practical perspective how quickly and effectively operators are going to be able to communicate changes in marketing preferences to third parties that undertake marketing on their behalf.

There are, however, still many aspects of the changes which are controversial – particularly in relation to the effective removal of a “soft opt in” for gambling marketing – meaning that the industry now stands alone as the only sector where positive opt-in to marketing is always required. For discussion on the Gambling Commission’s original proposals in relation to direct marketing, please see our blog: White Paper Series: Direct marketing and cross-selling in the crossfire.

Age verification – tightening verification in premises

Changes

New rules will require all land-based gambling licensees, including smaller licensees, to carry out age verification test purchasing. The newly affected categories of licensees include those that hold Category A and B betting, bingo, family entertainment centre (“FEC”) and adult gaming centres (“AGC”).

The LCCP will also be updated to confirm that it is best practice for casino, AGC, bingo, FEC and betting operators to require staff to check the age of any customer who appears to be under 25 years of age (rather than under 21 years of age) – e.g. Think 25.

Timing

The new age verification requirements come into force on 30 August 2024.

Insight

This was one of the less controversial changes proposed in the Summer 2023 Consultation and so it is unsurprising that it will come into force as originally proposed and within a short period (i.e. with just a four month lead-in – however, for testing purchasing, this date is somewhat artificial as results only need to be submitted within 42 days of the end of each financial year, meaning the deadline for testing relevant premises is actually 31 March 2025).

We recommend that licensees impacted by the new testing requirements (that have not already been voluntarily submitting test results) consider how they will comply with this requirement when it comes into force, how much that will cost and whether they involve an independent third party. Many such licensees may be able to access testing services via their trade association. Staff training will also be essential before the “Think 25” requirement comes into force on 30 August 2024.

For prior discussion on the Gambling Commission’s age verification proposals, please see our blog: White Paper Series: Time to think – Gambling Commission consultation on land-based age verification measures.

Personal management licenses (“PMLs”) – extension of roles

Changes

The Commission has extended the management roles expected to hold a PML to include:

Chief Executive Officers, Managing Directors and equivalent positions;
Chairs of boards – unless that person only holds the position on a transient and short-term basis for individual meetings; and
those responsible for AML and CTF, including the Money Laundering Reporting Officer and Nominated Officer.

Timing

The extended requirements in relation to PMLs come into force on 29 November 2024.

Insight

Again, this change has been introduced as originally proposed, with only minor clarifications to make it clear that the requirement for the Chair to hold a PML only applies to those that hold fixed or indeterminate office – a necessary change that PML applications often take months to be determined by the Gambling Commission.

For prior discussion on the PML requirements and corporate culture, please see our blog: White Paper Series: Transforming corporate culture by “driving personal accountability and responsibility” for lookers-on seeing most of the game?.

Next steps

We obviously recommend that all licensees familiarise themselves with the Summer 2023 Consultation Response and consider how the new requirements that are relevant to their business will be incorporated into their existing policies, procedures and controls in time for the deadlines. In addition, licensees should consider whether they wish to adopt the Industry Voluntary SR Code as an interim solution pending the introduction of formal financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments (once the pilot has completed).

This is a headline summary of today’s publications. We will be considering in depth and publishing further detailed insight into the proposed changes in the Summer 2023 Consultation Response in due course. Please sign up to our blog to receive further news, insight and analysis.

Please get in touch with us if you would like Harris Hagan to review your internal policies and procedures, provide PML training on the new requirements, or otherwise need legal advice on any gambling compliance matters.

27Mar

Quarterly regulatory returns across the board from July 2024

27th March 2024 Francesca Burnett-Hall 217

The Gambling Commission has confirmed today that it will be introducing a requirement for the submission of quarterly regulatory returns for all licence types, effective from 1 July 2024.

In our previous blog, we outlined the proposals set out in the Gambling Commission’s Autumn consultation, which also included harmonising regulatory return reporting dates, so that all operators will report at the same time.

The Gambling Commission is going ahead with its plans, which it believes will:

have a material impact on its ability to budget, through an improved ability to understand income levels on a more regular basis and forecast accurately;
provide a timelier, deeper and more accurate picture of the gambling sector, in line with the Gambling Commission’s aspirations and the intentions of the government’s White Paper;
facilitate simpler systems development for the Gambling Commission; and
simplify internal processes and improve the quality of industry statistics, as reporting periods will align.

The Gambling Commission sets out that these advantages will also directly improve its ability to use data to: (a) ensure licensees are within the correct fee category; (b) provide vital information to ensure it regulates effectively, and enable comparisons between sectors; and (c) publish industry statistics on the size and shape of the gambling market in Great Britain. It believes that:

“quarterly returns will support our aim to be a risk-based, evidence-led, and outcomes-focused regulator.”

The Gambling Commission does acknowledge that moving to quarterly regulatory returns will introduce a greater regulatory burden on those licensees that are currently only required to submit annual returns, but it hopes that this will be balanced by other changes it is making to regulatory returns, such as improving supporting guidance and streamlining the number of questions that need to be completed each quarter by removing around 600 fields across all licence types,; these changes were proposed in a previous consultation which was the subject of our blog published in 7 April 2020. For those licensees that hold multiple licences, the Gambling Commission considers that “these changes should simplify the administration required for submitting regulatory returns as they can all be done at the same time across the same time periods.”

Updated licence condition 15.3.1 will come into effect on 1 July 2024, and the first set of regulatory returns, which will relate to the quarterly return period 1 July 2024 to 30 September 2024) must be submitted by all licensees by 28 October 2024.

The Gambling Commission will set out further details of the changes, including information about the data required, in communications to licensees in the period leading up to the implementation date of 1 July 2024.

The full consultation response can be seen here.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about regulatory returns, or if you would like assistance with any compliance or enforcement matters.

28Feb

White Paper Series: Parliamentary debate on affordability and financial risk checks

28th February 2024 Chris Biggs 221

On Monday 26 February 2024, the UK Parliament debated the petition Stop the implementation of betting affordability/financial risk checks (the “Petition”), formally addressing one of the Government’s (and the Gambling Commission’s) more controversial commitments from the White Paper.

Background

Launched on 1 November 2023 by The Jockey Club Chief Executive Officer, Nevin Truesdale, the Petition reached more than 100,000 online signatures within 27 days, prompting Parliament’s Petitions Committee to schedule yesterday’s debate by Members of Parliament (“MPs”) including the Gambling Minister, Stuart Andrew (the “Debate”).

The Petition states:

“We want the Government to abandon the planned implementation of affordability checks for some people who want to place a bet. We believe such checks – which could include assessing whether people are ‘at risk of harm’ based on their postcode or job title – are inappropriate and discriminatory.”

On 16 November 2023, the Government responded to the Petition, stating it is “committed to a proportionate, frictionless system of financial risk checks, to protect those at risk of harm without over regulating”, also indicating that the Gambling Commission would set out its plans “in due course”.

Last week (and in advance of the Debate), the Gambling Commission’s Executive Director of Research and Policy, Tim Miller, published a blog entitled “Financial risk next steps – February 2024”, which provided an update on the Gambling Commission’s intended implementation of financial risk checks. We discussed these proposals in our recent blog: White Paper Series: Gambling Commission update on its implementation of financial risk checks.

The Debate

The Debate was attended by a large number of MPs, 27 of whom shared views in favour of both sides of the argument. In opening the Debate, MP for Neath, Hon. Christina Rees, stated “affordability checks are not about attacking consumer rights or curbing individual liberties, but about upholding consumer protections and curbing operator excess.” Whilst Rees acknowledged the concerns of industry bodies, operators and the horseracing community, she argued that the idea of introducing financial risk checks is not new, and that industry and consumers alike support the need for regulation against harmful betting. In Rees’ view, the issue rather seemed to be that:

“such checks need to be frictionless, without negative impact on punters or operator revenue, and without pushing vulnerable gamblers into the black market.”

Similar concerns about the proposed financial risk checks were raised by other MPs. Broadly, the major concerns from the industry (particularly horseracing) and consumers, as put forward by various MPs, were:

it is unclear if the financial risk checks would truly be frictionless;
it is inappropriate for the Government and/or the Gambling Commission to determine what is affordable for an individual;
financial risk checks would push more consumers to the black market; and
horseracing should be distinguished from other forms of gambling, such games of chance, in the implementation of financial risk checks.

Several MPs called for the Government to reconsider the proposals and start again, arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach would not work, and that a wider group of industry stakeholders and experts must be consulted in order to find the appropriate balance.

MP for Shipley, Hon. Philip Davies, on the other hand, took a slightly more nuanced approach, stating that “however much I would like the Government and the Gambling Commission to abandon the affordability check policy, I have not been here so long without accepting that some battles are impossible to win”. Davies suggested that, if they are to be introduced, the proposed “enhanced” financial risk checks should be based on data from the Steering Committee on Reciprocity (“SCOR”), instead of current account turnover data. Davies argued that the use of SCOR data would, crucially, ensure that the checks are “entirely frictionless and do not discriminate against any group, such as the self-employed”.

Amongst the arguments in support of the introduction of financial risk checks, several MPs emphasised that the lower, “light-touch”, financial vulnerability checks will be frictionless and that the enhanced financial risk checks would only require 0.3% of online gambling account holders to provide gambling businesses with additional financial information – the 0.3% being a reference to Andrew Rhodes’ (Chief Executive Officer for the Gambling Commission) blog entitled “Your questions answered on the financial risk checks consultation”, which was published on the Gambling Commission’s website on 7 September 2023. In his blog, Rhodes argued that, on the basis that nearly all gambling customers have a credit reference file which can be checked frictionlessly, only a small percentage (estimated at 0.3% by the Gambling Commission – although it is unclear on the basis of what data/research) would be asked to directly provide additional financial information to an operator in connection with a financial risk assessment.

MP for Sheffield Central, Hon. Paul Blomfield, stated that gambling addiction is a health issue which needs to have a prevention strategy. Noting gambling-related harm can occur at relatively low levels of spend, Mr Blomfield also considered that the 0.3% of customers likely to be affected by the enhanced checks is a “tiny number” in relation to the benefit that could be achieved through introducing the checks. Blomfield went on to downplay the argument that financial risk checks would cause customers to move to the black market. Blomfield cited similar concerns that were raised by the tobacco and payday lending industries, which he noted did not come to fruition after these industries were more stringently regulated.

MP for Swansea East and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on gambling related harm, Hon. Carolyn Harris, suggested that the logical way forward in protecting those gripped by gambling addiction is to introduce the financial risk checks on anyone gambling larger sums:

“Those would not stop anyone who can afford it betting as much as they choose, but it would stop those who cannot.”

Harris cited research by Dr Philip Newall from the University of Bristol and Dr David Zendle from the University of York using open banking data, which found that “unharmed” gamblers have an average monthly spend of £16.41, compared with £208.91 for the highest risk group. Harris went on to conclude that this research suggested that “risk-free” gamblers would very rarely trigger any affordability checks at the thresholds proposed by the Gambling Commission, being £125 net loss within a month for the light-touch financial vulnerability checks.

Gambling Minister, Hon. Stuart Andrew was last to respond in the Debate and did not provide any significant new information or details about the financial risk checks. Andrew appeared to attribute responsibility to the industry for its “onerous, ad hoc and inconsistent“application of financial checks under the current regime and to cite this as a basis for the Gambling Commission introducing consistent and less intrusive checks. An alternative argument might be that it is the Gambling Commission’s overreaching in its compliance and enforcement activity, particularly in relation to its application of its guidance, that provides the foundation for the proposed financial risk checks.

Andrew briefly addressed the issues raised regarding the black market and the horseracing industry, but largely focused on reiterating the Government’s position that it is not its “job to tell people how to spend their money”. Rather, and as outlined in the White Paper, the Government wants to balance individual freedom with the “necessary action to tackle the devastating consequences that harmful gambling can have on individuals and communities”. Andrew also stated:

“I believe that the proposals for financial risk checks will represent a significant improvement for both businesses and customers, compared with the current situation.”

In addressing the implementation of the financial risk checks, Andrew largely restated the Gambling Commission’s position from its blog of 22 February 2024 (referred to above). However, he emphasised that the Gambling Commission is “carefully listening” to concerns, demonstrated by its confirmation that gambling businesses will not be required to consider an individual’s personal details, such as their postcode or job title, as part of the financial risk checks. We question whether it is the Gambling Commission “carefully listening”, or the public and political traction created by the Petition that led to the Gambling Commission issuing a premature update on its intentions immediately before the Debate, and in doing so backtracking on its original proposal to obtain personal information, such as occupation, from customers. Had the Gambling Commission not so issued its update, Andrew would have had little new information to put forward.

Andrew also emphasised that the Government is supportive of the Gambling Commission’s intention to pilot the implementation of the financial risk checks, and that he hopes it is clear that:

“both the Government and the Commission want this to be a genuine pilot of how data sharing would work”.

Summary

In summary, the Debate uncovered many more questions than answers, and it is still unclear how the Government and Gambling Commission intend to ensure that the financial vulnerability and financial risk checks will truly be frictionless. What is clear, however, is that the Government and the Gambling Commission are working closely together to roll out these checks.

In terms of next steps, Andrew confirmed that the Gambling Commission will publish its full consultation response “very soon”, which reflects the Gambling Commission’s promise in its February 2024 blog that the consultation response would be published in March 2024. We, along with many other industry stakeholders, will eagerly be awaiting the publication of this response, in the hope that it will: (1) clearly set out full details of its proposals with regard to financial vulnerability and financial risk checks (including in relation to the proposed pilot phase); and (2) propose novel and well considered solutions to address some of the (we consider, genuine) concerns raised by MPs in the Debate, and by the wider industry.

Frustratingly, and despite the high number of signatories to the Petition, it is unlikely that the Government and the Gambling Commission will depart from their path as articulated in the White Paper. The Gambling Commission, it seems, is determined to establish the requirement for financial risk checks, ensure that technological developments are implemented, and only then consider and determine what the “vast majority” of customers having a “frictionless” experience actually means. To continue the theme of horse-based analogies enjoyed by several MPs during the Debate, by then, the horse will have bolted.

Watch the full Debate in Parliament here:

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about financial risk checks or if you would like assistance with any compliance or enforcement matters.

With thanks to David Whyte and Gemma Boore for their co-authorship.

23Feb

White Paper Series: DCMS announces online slots stake limits

23rd February 2024 Chris Biggs 215

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) has today announced that the government will introduce statutory maximum stake limits for online slots games later this year, as follows:

£5 maximum stake limit per spin for adults aged 25 and above; and

£2 maximum stake limit per spin for young adults aged 18 to 24.

In reaching this decision, DCMS states:

“We believe these limits will achieve the government’s stated objectives of reducing the risk of gambling-related harm, with a lower risk of unintended consequences and less disruption to the majority of gamblers who do not suffer harm.”

DCMS’ announcement is accompanied by the publication of its response (the “Consultation Response”) to its consultation A maximum stake limit for online slots games in Great Britain, which we have previously discussed.

Implementation

DCMS’ announcement sets out that the online stake limits will come into force in September this year, subject to the passing of secondary legislation through Parliament. It is of note, however, that there is no reference to an implementation date in the Consultation Response itself. If the stake limits are approved by Parliament, the secondary legislation will impose new licence conditions on remote gambling operators, which the Gambling Commission will be responsible for enforcing.

Notably, there will be a phased approach to the implementation of these new requirements:

DCMS expects there to be a minimum six-week transition period for Gambling Commission licensees to introduce the £5 stake limit for all customers.

Following this, the government will allow a further six weeks for licensees to develop any necessary technical solutions before it expects the lower £2 stake limit for young adults aged 18 to 24 to be in place.

The phased approach acknowledges that development of technical solutions by licensees may be required for age-based limits. However, following the transition period, if licensees are unable to develop solutions adequately to distinguish between customers who are 25 and over and those who are under 25, DCMS expects licensees will not be able to offer any customers online slots stakes exceeding £2 per spin. Licensees would therefore be wise to start taking steps now to develop the technical solutions required.

Key points of note in the Consultation Response

DCMS received and considered 98 stakeholder responses and identified the following clear themes from those responses:

Online slots are a high-risk gambling product and statutory stake limits are necessary to reduce the risk of gambling-related harm.
Many respondents indicated that online slots stake limits should align with stake limits on gaming machines in land-based operators.
It is important to retain consumer choice in light of the risk of consumers moving to the illegal online market if they are no longer able to stake at their preferred levels.

£5 stake limit

Notably, 44% of respondents indicated they were in favour of the lower £2 stake limit for all adults. DCMS explains that 26% of respondents (some of whom selected the £2 limit option) indicated in the free text box of the consultation question that the stake limit should be lower than £2. Many respondents in favour of these lower stake limits indicated that this option was “most likely to reduce average losses or help minimise the risk of runaway losses”, therefore significantly reducing gambling-related harm.

DCMS states around 20% of customers currently choose to stake over £5 per spin on online slots at least once a year and will therefore be impacted by the stake limit, however only 0.6% of all spins are over £5. DCMS believes that a £5 stake limit will: (a) achieve the government’s stated objectives in a proportionate way, with a lower risk of unintended consequences such as displacement to the illegal online market; (b) help to reduce harm because of the constraint on a player’s ability to place very large stakes quickly; and (c) align with the stake limit for category B1 machines in casinos.

£2 stake limit

DCMS states that the majority (60%) of respondents favoured a stake limit of £2 or under for young adults aged 18 to 24, many of whom cited evidence showing that young adults may be particularly vulnerable to gambling-related harm and “felt that this justified greater protections either in the form of a separate stake limit or otherwise.”

DCMS agrees that the evidence justifies increased protections for this cohort of consumer:

“Young adults have the highest average problem gambling score of any age group, generally lower disposable income, ongoing neurological development impacting risk perception, and common life stage factors like managing money for the first time or moving away from support networks.”

“A separate limit for young adults aligns with the wider government approach to gambling of targeted and evidence-based interventions for those at risk, while not unduly restricting others.”

Scope of limits

The government received general support for the descriptions of ‘online slots’, ‘maximum stake’ and ‘game cycle’ proposed in its consultation. The definition of online slots appears to have drawn the most scrutiny: 65% of respondents agreed with the government’s description and 22% did not agree, with some respondents considering the description to be too vague and therefore susceptible to loopholes. DCMS states that some respondents expressed concerns that gambling operators could be incentivised to develop products which are functionally similar to online slots, but might be argued to be technically exempt to circumvent stake limits.

DCMS confirms that the government does not intend to introduce a maximum stake limit for online games other than online slots. However, its intention is for boundary-pushing products (such as those which combine fundamentally slots-type gameplay elements with other games like bingo – for instance the popular ‘slingo’ game) to be captured under the definition of slots and subject to the stake limits.

Summary

Whilst not unexpected, the introduction of the stake limits at these levels is a significant shift in the UK’s remote gambling sector and one which will come at a cost to licensees. DCMS acknowledges the likely reduction in annual gross gambling yield across the industry, as well as the costs associated with implementing the stake limits. However, DCMS is clear on the government’s position: the £5 and £2 stake limits “will limit the potential for harmful losses from those gambling at elevated levels of risk or experiencing problem gambling compared to the status quo of theoretically unlimited stakes.”

Whilst it is unclear when the government will table its secondary legislation for Parliament to consider, we encourage licensees to begin considering how they will implement the stake limits well in advance of the September commencement date (whenever that may be).

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about the stake limits or if you would like assistance with any compliance or enforcement matters.

02Feb

White Paper Series: Gambling Commission consults on timing of regulatory returns

2nd February 2024 Chris Biggs 189

On 30 November 2023, the Gambling Commission released its Autumn 2023 consultation on proposed changes to Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS) (the “Autumn Consultation”). In this blog, we focus on the proposed changes to the Gambling Commission’s regulatory returns requirements, which for our regular readers, will not have come as a surprise.

Background

As we have previously reported, regulatory returns have been under the Gambling Commission’s microscope in recent months:

First, in an E-Bulletin on 29 August 2023, the Gambling Commission reminded licensees to submit regulatory returns on time in accordance with licence condition 15.3.1 of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (“LCCP”). We discussed this reminder in our previous blog: Gambling Commission sets its sights on late regulatory returns and incorrect fee categories.

Subsequently (and as highlighted in our article: Regulatory returns are under the microscope – but will the key issue be missed?), the Gambling Commission’s Director of Research and Statistics, Ben Haden, posted a blog on 6 October 2023, entitled Making better use of operator data, confirming the regulator’s intention to make changes to its regulatory returns, including to “sharpen” the dataset currently received from licensees. Haden also indicated that there would be a consultation on the frequency of regulatory returns in November 2023.

It therefore comes as no surprise that the Autumn Consultation includes proposals to amend the frequency of submission of regulatory returns. In addition, the Gambling Commission indicates in the Autumn Consultation that it intends to make other changes outside of the consultation process. For example, by removing data fields from regulatory returns which are:

“both burdensome for gambling licensees and data quality issues for ”.

In this blog, we outline the Gambling Commission’s proposals in relation to regulatory returns and reflect on the likely impact of these changes.

Proposed changes to frequency – subject to consultation

Currently, the frequency of a licensee’s regulatory return submissions depends on the type of operating licence it holds. The Gambling Commission is consulting on requiring regulatory returns quarterly from all licensees, irrespective of gambling licence type.

It is expected that this proposal will affect the following categories / number of licensees:

Licence/Return	No. of licensees submitting annual regulatory returns
Adult gaming centre	400
Betting	549
Bingo	157
Casino (1968)	0
Casino (2005)	0
External lottery manager	28
Family entertainment centre	112
Gaming machine technical	402
Lottery	484
Remote casino, betting and bingo	10
Software	291

The Gambling Commission proposes to introduce this change by amending licence condition 15.3.1 as follows:

15.3.1 – General and regulatory returns

Applies to: All operating licences

On request, licensees must provide the Commission with such information as the Commission may require, in such a form or manner as the Commission may from time-to-time specify, about the use made of facilities provided in accordance with this licence and the manner in which gambling authorised by this licence and the licensee’s business in relation to that gambling are carried on.
In particular within 28 days of the end of each quarterly period ~~or, for those only submitting annual returns, within 42 days of the end of each annual period,~~ licensees must submit an accurate Regulatory Return to the Commission containing such information as the Commission may from time to time specify.

Further changes – not subject to consultation

The Gambling Commission also confirms in the Autumn Consultation that it plans to implement changes in relation to:

“the range of data required, the harmonisation of reporting periods across the industry, and improving the functionality for submitting and quality assuring the data.”

This is not the first time these changes have been mentioned. They actually flow from the Gambling Commission’s Changes to information requirements in the LCCP, regulatory returns, official statistics, and related matters consultation response, published in July 2020 (the “2020 Consultation Response”). According to the Autumn Consultation, the changes proposed in the 2020 Consultation Response were not implemented at the time due to the “reprioritisation” of the Gambling Commission’s work and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Changes to harmonise reporting dates

The first change that the Gambling Commission proposes to make is in terms of the “harmonisation” of regulatory return reporting dates. According to the Autumn Consultation, this change will take effect at the same time as its proposal to move to quarterly submissions – and means that the return due dates for all licensees will become:

Return	Reporting period	Return due date
Q2 return	1 April to 30 June	28 July
Q3 return	1 July to 30 September	28 October
Q4 return	1 October to 31 December	28 January
Q1 return	1 January to 31 March	28 April

Changes to data fields

In addition, the Autumn Consultation confirms that the Gambling Commission intends to remove a significant number of data fields from the current regulatory returns process, which it states will ensure:

data completion is less time-consuming for gambling licensees;
an opportunity to clarify questions and improve data quality;
obsolete and non-business critical fields/ questions are removed; and
improved understanding of current and emerging issues.

It is currently unclear which fields will be removed. Again, the Gambling Commission has chosen not to formally consult with the industry in respect of the removal of these data fields. However, it has confirmed that it will engage – outside of the consultation process – with the industry on the final reporting fields, with the intention to reduce the current number.

In line with Proposal 1 (of Part 2) of the 2020 Consultation Response, we expect the following data fields to be impacted as part of this process:

Non-GB data

The Gambling Commission will only ask for non-GB data at an aggregated activity level, as opposed to requiring data for each sport and game category level. (It is important to note here that the Gambling Commission is concerned with non-GB revenues received in reliance on the GB licence, rather than all non-GB revenues – as this is often misunderstood by licensees.)

B2C revenue share

Reporting of revenue share Gross Gambling Yield (“GGY”) for B2C licensees will be combined with proprietary GGY across remote casino, betting and bingo sport and game categories. The Gambling Commission stated that this would not affect licensees’ fee categorisation.

Gaming Machine Technical

The Gambling Commission will no longer ask for the number of units sold, software sales or gross value of software sales and instead simply require the total value of sales. It will also remove a number of questions relating to the purchase, lease or sale of machines, profit shares and reporting of data by venue type.

Bingo (non-remote)

Turnover reporting will no longer need to be split between participation fees and sales.

Workforce

The Gambling Commission will no longer ask licensees for their workforce numbers.

For operators interested in participating in the Gambling Commission’s pilot program (or providing feedback), queries can be directed to [email protected].

The elephants in the room

It is undeniable that aligning reporting dates for licensees will bring a degree of harmony to the regulatory returns process. However, neither the proposals in the Autumn Consultation nor the Gambling Commission’s intended changes to reporting dates / data fields address one of the main issues with regulatory returns, i.e. that fee categories are calculated by reference to a licensee’s licence year, not their financial or calendar year.

Currently, the Gambling Commission is generally amenable to amending a licensee’s reporting dates if requested by a licensee – giving licensees the flexibility to align their regulatory returns reporting dates with other internal financial reporting dates, which typically increases their ability to spot when they are about to exceed a fee category. However, once the new reporting periods are introduced, it seems that licensees will be unable to harmonise Gambling Commission reporting requirements with internal deadlines. The Gambling Commission appears to have paid little heed to this – despite some respondents to the 2020 Consultation highlighting that having the flexibility to determine their own reporting periods better enabled them to manage their resources to comply with their various other financial, regulatory and business reporting obligations.

Instead, it appears that the decision to align reporting dates has been made because it will be beneficial for the Gambling Commission, leading to:

an improved ability for the Gambling Commission to budget based on more timely reporting of financial information, which will assist forecasting and ensure licensees are in the correct fee category;
a more timely and accurate picture of the gambling sector, as the Gambling Commission will not need to estimate quarterly comparisons based on annual returns; and
improved data quality for the Gambling Commission’s official statistics.

As we have indicated in our previous blog, we are certainly hopeful that the Gambling Commission’s collection of ‘better’ evidence will lead to its better regulation. However, it is also critical that these changes do not create a significant additional regulatory burden on licensees.

Finally, we also hope that the Gambling Commission will, as part of its review of the regulatory returns data fields, review and update its regulatory returns guidance. As we have previously highlighted, the Gambling Commission’s guidance on regulatory returns is in many places, unclear and lacking in detail – an issue which continues to lead to confusion for licensees and, in turn, the inadvertent submission of inaccurate information. For now, it is unclear whether the Gambling Commission will update its guidance following the Autumn Consultation; and we strongly encourage licensees and other industry stakeholders to raise this with the Gambling Commission when they respond to the Autumn Consultation.

Next steps

The Autumn Consultation will close on 21 February 2024. Responses can be submitted through the Gambling Commission’s online survey or sent by post to the Policy Team at the following address: Gambling Commission, 4th Floor, Victoria Square House, Birmingham, B2 4BP.

In the short time before the Autumn Consultation closes, we strongly encourage licensees to consider how the proposals will impact their businesses and if they wish to influence change, respond to the Autumn Consultation and/or apply to be part of the Gambling Commission’s pilot data programme.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about your regulatory returns or if you would like assistance with preparing a response to the Autumn Consultation.

With thanks to G emma Boore and Jessica Wilson for their invaluable co-authorship.

31Jan

White Paper Series: What’s next?

31st January 2024 Harris Hagan 205

In our last blog, we looked back at the last nine months. In this blog, we look forward at what lies ahead in 2024.

Open consultations

In the words of the previous Gambling Minister, Paul Scully MP, and as previously blogged by us, “ the industry to stay engaged as policies are refined, finalised, and implemented.” We continue to urge the industry to heed that imperative during 2024 and beyond, including on the following forthcoming deadlines:

21 February 2024 – GC Autumn Consultation (on proposed changes to the LCCP and RTS) closes.
15 March 2024 – GC December Consultation (on proposed changes related to financial penalties and financial key event reporting) closes.

The consultation phase is critical, with both Government and the Gambling Commission remaining under immense pressure to listen. We remain happy to assist clients with their responses where that would be helpful, as we did in the last once in a generation opportunity in 2005!

Closed consultations and forthcoming responses

We await responses (including implementation timeframes) on the following consultations:

DCMS Land-Based Consultation (closed on 4 October 2023)
DCMS Stake Consultation (closed on 4 October 2023)
GC Summer Consultation (closed on 18 October 2023)
DCMS Levy Consultation (closed on 14 December 2023)

What else is on the horizon?

February to March 2024 – Likely publication of Gambling Commission’s new three-year corporate strategy

March 2024 – Gambling Commission conference on illegal gambling

1 April 2024 – LCCP GAMSTOP and suicide reporting requirements come into force

TBC: Although the following items are expected, the timing is currently unknown:

DCMS consultation on Gambling Commission fees
Expected introduction of the statutory gambling levy
Establishment of a gambling ombudsman
Official launch of the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain
Extension of Gambling Commission powers to tackle illegal gambling (“when Parliamentary time allows”) Government review of the horserace betting levy
Government consultation on bringing remote gambling into a single tax structure

Want to hear more?

Please sign up to our blog to receive insight and commentary on the implementation of the White Paper during 2024, as well as other relevant industry news.

31Jan

White Paper Series: 9 months in – where are we?

31st January 2024 Harris Hagan 225

It is now nearly nine months since the publication of the White Paper on 27 April 2023, which was nearly 30 months in the making. Following its publication, the Gambling Commission was quick to manage expectations by saying that the implementation of the White Paper “will likely take a number of years to fully complete”. So, where are we after 9 months? In this blog, and following the format of the White Paper, we look back at the progress made by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (“DCMS”), the Gambling Commission and the industry.

Chapter 1: Online protections – players and products

26 July 2023 – Two consultations were published by the Gambling Commission and DCMS to implement proposals to improve online protections in the White Paper:

a Gambling Commission consultation (the “GC Summer Consultation”), which included proposals to reduce the speed and intensity of online products, while making them fairer and increasing consumer understanding about game play and introduce new obligations on operators to conduct financial vulnerability checks and financial risk assessments to understand if a customer’s gambling is likely to be harmful in the context of their financial circumstances. The GC Summer Consultation also included proposals to extend personal management licence (“PML”) requirements so more individuals within a licensee would be required to hold a PML.
a DCMS consultation on maximum stake limits for online slots (the “DCMS Stake Consultation”).

4 October 2023 – The DCMS Stake Consultation closed (extended from 20 September 2023 following the publication of incorrect problem gambling rates). At the time of writing, we await the response.

18 October 2023 – The GC Summer Consultation closed. At the time of writing, we await the response.

29 November 2023 – The Gambling Commission launched a further consultation (the “GC Autumn Consultation”), includes proposals to ensure that tools are available (such as deposit limits) to make it easier for consumers to manage their gambling and increase transparency for consumers if their funds are held by licensees that offer no protection in the event of insolvency. This consultation remains open until 21 February 2024.

Want to read more?

Read more in the following Harris Hagan blogs:

Chapter 2: Marketing and advertising

19 June 2023 – The Gambling Commission published a new hub for operators engaging with third parties.

25 July 2023 – As part of wider work by Government on online advertising and consumer protection, DCMS published its consultation response to the Online Advertising Programme.

26 July 2023 – The GC Summer Consultation was published, which included proposals to improve consumer choice on direct marketing by giving consumers more control over the direct gambling marketing they wish to receive.

5 September 2023 – The Betting & Gaming Council published the seventh edition of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling Code for Socially Responsible Advertising (the “IGRG Code”), which notably:

extended safer gambling messaging requirements to 20% of advertising space across online and broadcast media (previously, this commitment only applied to television and radio); and
extended the 25+ rule to all digital media platforms, including those which operate age verification processes.

Throughout 2023, the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) has also been making full use of artificial intelligence through its Active Ad Monitoring system in order to review and regulate online advertising. Since August 2023, there have been at least seven rulings on gambling adverts, which the ASA states have formed:

“part of a wider piece of work banning gambling ads which, under strengthened rules, are prohibited from being likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s.”

18 October 2023 – The GC Summer Consultation closed. At the time of writing, we await the response.

29 November 2023 – The GC Autumn Consultation was published and included proposals to ensure free bets and bonuses are more socially responsible and do not encourage harmful or excessive gambling. This consultation remains open until 21 February 2024.

1 December 2023 – The IGRG Code came into force.

Want to read more?

Read more in the following Harris Hagan blogs:

Chapter 3: The Gambling Commission’s powers and resources

26 July 2023 – The GC Summer Consultation was published and included proposals to change the composition and decision-making processes of the Gambling Commission’s regulatory panels. Note that this change was not proposed in the White Paper.

17 October 2023 – DCMS published its consultation on the statutory gambling levy (the “DCMS Levy Consultation”), which set out proposals for the structure, distribution and governance of the statutory levy for gambling operators.

18 October 2023 – The GC Summer Consultation closed. At the time of writing, we await the response.

23 October 2023 – The Gambling Commission called licensees to participate in a user research programme aimed at sharpening the dataset received through regulatory returns.

22 November 2023 – The Government published the Autumn Statement 2023, which included proposals to change the structure of remote gambling taxation.

23 November 2023 – The Gambling Commission published its first ‘experimental’ statistics from the Gambling Survey of Great Britain, which will become the data source for the Gambling Commission’s official adult gambling participation and problem gambling prevalence statistics in 2024.

29 November 2023 – The GC Autumn Consultation was published and included proposed changes to the LCCP to increase the frequency of regulatory returns and standardise reporting periods across the industry and remove the current voluntary system for funding research, prevention and treatment, once the statutory gambling levy is in force.

14 December 2023 – The DCMS Levy Consultation closed. At the time of writing, we await the response.

15 December 2023 – Although not specifically proposed in the White Paper, the Gambling Commission published a further 2023 consultation on 15 December 2023 (the “GC December Consultation”), which included proposals to update its Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties to make changes to the criteria for imposing a financial penalty and the methodology for determining the amount of the penalty and add new key reporting requirements to the LCCP.

21 February 2024 – GC Autumn Consultation closes.

15 March 2024 – GC December Consultation closes.

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Read more in the following Harris Hagan blogs:

Chapter 4: Dispute resolution and consumer redress

The process for the appointment of a gambling ombudsman was timetabled to commence in Spring/Summer 2023. Government expects the ombudsman to be accepting complaints within a year of the publication of the White Paper. We are not aware of any public updates in this area since the White Paper was published.

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Read more in the following Harris Hagan blog:

Gambling Ombudsman – a new approach to consumer redress

Chapter 5: Children and young adults

18 July 2023 – The Gambling Commission clarified its approach to vulnerability and its expectations of licensees, ahead of the publication of its updated customer interaction guidance for remote gambling licensees, which was issued on 23 August 2023.

31 October 2023 – The customer interaction guidance came into effect.

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Read more in the following Harris Hagan blog:

Gambling Commission publishes new remote customer interaction guidance

Chapter 6: Land-based gambling

26 July 2023 – DCMS published a consultation (the “DCMS Land-Based Consultation”), which included proposals to relax casino rules relating to table/machine ratios, improve age verification measures, introduce cashless payments on gaming machines and increase licensing authority fees.

4 October 2023 – The DCMS Land-Based Consultation closed. At the time of writing, we await the response.

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21Dec

DCMS Committee on gambling regulation publishes its report

21st December 2023 Francesca Burnett-Hall 204

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) Committee on gambling regulation, appointed by the House of Commons, has today published its report with its conclusions and recommendations to Government.

The inquiry launched in December 2022, at a time when there was considerable uncertainty about the status of the Gambling White Paper. The original terms of reference were as follows:

What is the scale of gambling-related harm in the UK?
What should the key priorities be in the gambling White Paper?
How broadly should the term ‘gambling’ be drawn?
Is it possible for a regulator to stay abreast of innovation in the online sphere?
What additional problems arise when online gambling companies are based outside UK jurisdiction?

After the publication of the White Paper, on 27 April 2023, the terms of reference were broadened to include:

What are the most welcome proposals in the Gambling White Paper?
Are there any significant gaps in the Government’s reforms?
What are the potential barriers to the Government and Gambling Commission delivering the White Paper’s main measure by summer 2024, the Government’s stated aim?

Culture Media and Sport, Chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, said:

“While gambling regulation should not overly impinge on the freedom to enjoy what is a problem-free pastime for the majority, more should be done to shield both children and people who have experienced problem gambling from what often seems like a bombardment of advertising branding at football and other sporting events. The Government needs to go further than the proposals in the White Paper and work with sports governing bodies on cutting the sheer volume of betting adverts people are being exposed to.”

The Committee received more than 160 submissions and held four oral evidence sessions.

Main conclusions and recommendations:

Implementation of the Gambling White Paper

The Government must set out a detailed timetable for the delivery of the White Paper’s proposals, with the Committee concerned that there was no mention of gambling legislation in the King’s Speech.
The Government and Gambling Commission should set out how they will address the growing trend of unlicensed gambling sites targeting the self-excluded. The Gambling Commission must also continue to work to improve its knowledge of the black market and its ability to monitor the number of British consumers gambling with illegal operators.

Online gambling protections

The Committee supports the principle of financial risk checks, but they must be minimally intrusive with customers’ financial data properly protected. There should be a pilot of the new system before the checks are fully implemented.
Stake limits for online slots should match those for electronic gaming machines in land-based venues and not exceed £5. Online deposit limits should be set by default and require customers to opt out rather than opt in.

Children and young adults

The Government should review the case for banning children’s access to social casino games, which are often playable on smartphones and simulate gambling activities and products.
The Committee supports the proposed enhanced online gambling protections for young adults aged 18-24, namely triggering a financial risk check at a lower monetary loss threshold and limiting the stake for online slots to £2. The Government, Gambling Commission, and gambling operators must ensure these measures do not unintentionally lead to more adults in this age group giving a higher age at account-creation.

Gambling advertising

There is an urgent need to better understand the effects of gambling advertising on the risk of harm. The evidence for a link between advertising and gambling harm currently appears much stronger than evidence indicating there is a risk of displacement to the black market if gambling advertising were restricted. The Government must commission research on the link between gambling advertising and the risk of gambling harm, including specifically for women and children.
The Government should have taken a more precautionary approach to gambling advertising in general – particularly to minimise children’s exposure. While a complete ban on gambling advertising would not be appropriate, there is still scope for further regulation beyond that proposed by the Government.
The Government should work with the Premier League and the governing bodies of other sports to ensure that the gambling sponsorship code of conduct contains provision to reduce the volume of gambling adverts in stadia. A higher proportion of gambling advertising in stadia should be dedicated to safer gambling messaging. The Government must require sports governing bodies to publish the code without further undue delay.

Land-based gambling

Customers who prefer to pay on electronic gaming machines using cash should continue to be able to do so on all machines following any introduction of cashless payments.
The Government must ensure that the new settlement arising from the review of the Horserace Betting Levy mitigates the impact of the White Paper’s reforms on the racing industry and ensuring British racing’s future.

Gambling research, prevention and treatment

The Committee supports the proposed structure and governance of the new statutory levy to be imposed on operators in the industry to fund gambling research, prevention and treatment. The Government must ensure that service providers currently operating via the voluntary funding system are adequately supported in the transition to a statutory levy. There should be a new national strategy for reducing gambling harms.

A Gambling Ombudsman

The scope of the new gambling ombudsman should include all disputes between gambling operators and their customers, not only those relating to social responsibility failings.

Government has two months to respond.

Please get in touch if you would like discuss any of the proposals in the White Paper or would like any assistance preparing a response to the Gambling Commission’s current open consultations: the Autumn consultation, which includes proposals relating to incentives, customer-led tools, customer funds protection and regulatory returns reporting (closing 21 February 2024) and the December consultation on proposals relating to financial penalties and financial key event reporting (currently closing 15 March 2024).

01Dec

White Paper Series: Gambling Commission launches Autumn 2023 consultation

1st December 2023 Harris Hagan 225

On 29 November 2023, the Gambling Commission launched its Autumn 2023 consultation (the “Autumn Consultation”). It is the Gambling Commission’s second consultation addressing its commitments within the White Paper, following the Summer 2023 consultation.

The Autumn Consultation sets out five proposed changes to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (“LCCP”) and Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (“RTS”), several of which were foreshadowed in the Gambling Commission’s Advice to Government in April 2023. These include:

Socially responsible incentives

The Gambling Commission wants to make changes to ensure that incentives such as free bets and bonuses are constructed in a socially responsible manner and do not encourage excessive or harmful gambling. Proposals include banning or limiting (to a maximum of 1, 5 or 10 times) the use of wagering requirements in promotional offers and banning the mixing of product types (e.g. betting, bingo, casino and lotteries) within incentives for new and existing customers, as well as updating social responsibility code provision 5.1 of the LCCP to make it explicit that incentives should be constructed in a manner that does not lead to excessive or harmful gambling.

Customer-led tools

The proposals include amendments to the RTS to ensure customers can seamlessly use pre-commitment tools (such as deposit limits) to maintain awareness and control over their gambling. The Gambling Commission is also seeking stakeholder views on: (a) minimising friction in the customer journey when they choose to use customer-led tools; and (b) cross-operator deposit limits, the prospect of which is sure to be a key area of focus in industry responses.

Improved transparency on customer funds in the event of insolvency

The Gambling Commission is seeking to improve the transparency of operators who have a ‘not protected’ rating (under the Gambling Commission’s rating system) in relation to customer funds. It proposes an addition to the LCCP, to require licensees to remind customers, no more than once every 6 months, that their funds are not protected in the event of insolvency throughout the customer relationship.

Changes to the frequency of regulatory returns

As we previously discussed, the Gambling Commission is proposing to amend the LCCP to require all regulatory returns be submitted on a quarterly basis.

Notably, the Gambling Commission states it will continue to engage with industry on the “final specification of fields for reporting” outside of the consultation process. We understand that this will be conducted through the Gambling Commission’s User research programme shortly, which we explained in a recent blog.

Removing obsolete Gambling Commission requirements due to the Government’s upcoming statutory levy (LCCP RET list)

Running alongside the Government’s consultation on the statutory levy, the Autumn Consultation proposes to remove the current requirement to make an annual financial contribution to fund research, prevention and treatment (“RET”) from the LCCP, once the statutory levy is introduced or at the beginning of the financial year in which the levy is introduced.

For further information about the statutory levy (and the Government consultation), please see our recent blog.

Other industry updates

The Gambling Commission explains that it is currently analysing the responses to its Summer 2023 consultation, which closed on 18 October 2023, and will release “one or more responses” to that consultation in 2024. It will also be launching another consultation on two “business as usual” matters shortly. This will include proposals addressing the clarity and transparency of the Gambling Commission’s calculation of financial penalties as well as licensees’ reporting of financial key events.

Next steps

The Autumn Consultation will be open for 12 weeks, closing on 21 February 2024. Responses can be submitted online, or by post to the Gambling Commission’s Policy Team.

We strongly encourage all licensees and stakeholders to review and respond to the Autumn Consultation. Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss this matter further or require our assistance preparing responses.