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Harris Hagan

Gambling Related Harm

Home / Gambling Related Harm
09Jul

Gambling Commission Creates Interim Experts by Experience Group

9th July 2020 Bahar Alaeddini Anti-Money Laundering, Marketing, Responsible Gambling 55

On 19 June 2020, the Gambling Commission announced the creation of an interim Experts by Experience Group.  The interim group “will provide advice, evidence and recommendations to the Commission to help inform decision making and raise standards, along with co-creating a permanent Experts by Experience Advisory Group to advise the regulator on a more established basis.”

An unidentified spokesperson for the interim group said:

“[It] comprises a group of people who have suffered a wide range of gambling harms, including recovering gambling addicts, family and partners of addicts, and those who have lost children to gambling suicides…the establishment of the group is long overdue.  We are determined…to play a continuing and much more active role in the deliberations and decision making across the whole remit of the Commission as part of the National Strategy to reduce gambling harms.  We bring a new and vital perspective on key issues of regulation and even how the Commission itself works.”

The interim group will be in place for at least six months, at which point the Gambling Commission plans to move to a permanent Experts by Experience Advisory Group, similar to the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel.

No terms of reference are published for the interim Experts by Experience Group and its members are not known.  Names may be sensitive or confidential; however, at a minimum, the number of members, members’ backgrounds, the reason for their appointment and a register of interests should be published.  Otherwise, the interim group runs the risk of being labelled a quasi-lobby group, financed and supported by the Gambling Commission.

Although it is only an interim group, plainly, it has a strong level of influence over the Gambling Commission’s work.  It should, therefore, be treated no differently from the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel. 

The objective bystander might wonder why the interim group’s members only comprise those who have experienced gambling harms when there are 400,000 people classified as problem gamblers and 32 million gamblers in Great Britain.

Unfortunately, the Gambling Commission’s lack of transparency detracts from the real and genuine value of the Experts by Experience Group and devalues contributions made by its members.  To build a sustainable gambling industry, we could all learn and develop significantly from the work of the interim group and the experiences of its members.  This requires us to work in partnership and adopt a balanced approach. 

It seems the Gambling Commission has failed, again, to be transparent, balanced and independent.

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06Apr

Banks Tackling Gambling-Related Harm

6th April 2020 Lucy Paterson Harris Hagan, Responsible Gambling 69

Last year the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) ministers met with banks and gambling operators to discuss their growing concerns, and how companies could use technology and customer data to help those at risk of developing gambling problems. Brigid Simmonds, chair of the Betting and Gaming Council, recently called for the banking industry to intervene with their customers in the same way that gambling operators are required to – but are banks now starting to play their part?

In November 2018, Barclays became the first high street bank to assist problem gamblers in controlling their gambling, by allowing customers to block payments relating to certain categories of spending, including gambling.  Unhelpfully, it can be switched instantly on and off through its online banking app.  Since then, many other high street banks have followed suit in making similar measures available to customers, which work by automatically declining any attempted payments within selected categories.

Payment blocking is just one way that banks are attempting to protect customers from gambling-related harm, and the range of measures on offer varies greatly between banks.

Whilst many banks provide the option of blocking gambling payments via both credit and debit card, at present NatWest, RBS and MBNA only offer blocking on credit card payments. When the Gambling Commission’s ban on credit cards comes into effect on 14 April 2020 and customers have no option but to use their debit cards should they want to gamble, these banks will need to review this feature if it is to provide any useful function for customers at all.

Some banks are carefully considering how best to protect their customers from gambling-related harms and are innovating new ways to do so. Starling Bank now:

  • signposts a customer removing a gambling payment block to the National Gambling Helpline; and
  • has an automatic 48-hour cooling off period before actioning a customer’s request to remove a gambling payment block.

Similar cooling-off periods are already offered by a number of other banks, including HSBC, Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, and is likely to prove a useful tool for problem gamblers.  Research shows that providing customers with a break or interruption in play provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on their gambling and, therefore, their decision to remove the gambling payment block, minimising the risk of impulsive decisions.

Monzo and NatWest go one step further.  Monzo requires customers to speak to customer services before the gambling payment block can be removed, creating friction and perhaps another opportunity to reflect on their spending.

NatWest recently launched free psychological counselling in-branch to anyone, whether or not they are a NatWest customer, who has a gambling problem. The scheme was initially launched in several branches in London and the South East, but will be extended based on  demand from problem gamblers.  HSBC, meanwhile, has sought the assistance of GamCare to train its staff to respond to calls from customers about gambling, and has announced that it will analyse data on card spending to see who might benefit from advice.

A holistic approach is undoubtedly the best way to help those experiencing gambling-related harms and is also the approach advocated by the Betting and Gaming Council in key action four of its Safer Gambling Commitments. It is therefore encouraging to see banks of all sizes accepting that they too have a part to play in tackling the issue, and it is hoped that banks will continue to work closely with the gambling industry, DCMS, the Gambling Commission and gambling charities to improve the tools already on offer and to innovate new ways to help customers manage their gambling.

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