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1 May 2024 - Gambling Commission publishes response to consultations on financial risk checks, direct marketing, remote game design rules and age verification on premises

The Gambling Commission has published its response to four consultations launched as part of the White Paper: financial risk checks; remote game design rules; direct marketing; and age verification in premises.

Following the response, the following steps will be taken:

• Financial risk checks: Requirements for ‘financial vulnerability checks’ to be undertaken (based on publicly available data) will be introduced from 30 August 2024. To ease the introduction of these checks they will initially come into force at a higher threshold (of £500 net deposits in a rolling 30 day period), before reducing to a lower threshold on 28 February 2025 (of £150 net deposits in a rolling 30 day period). Meanwhile, the Commission is going to run a pilot with the largest operators to test the practical issues of the introduction of “financial risk assessments” (which are more involved than financial vulnerability checks) before a final decision is made on whether and how these assessments take place. The pilot will run initially from 30 August 2024 to 31 March 2025. As part of the pilot, participating operators will need to request financial risk assessments from credit reference agencies for certain customers. Both the requirements for financial vulnerability checks and obligation for certain operators to participate in the pilot will be introduced through updates to the LCCP. In the meantime, the Betting and Gaming Council, has announced a voluntary industry-wide code that will apply. 
• Remote game design rules: various restrictions on remote game design will be introduced through amendments to the Remote Technical Standards - a 5 second speed for non-slots titles; a requirement to prohibit autoplay for all online gaming products; a prohibition on operator-led functionality which enables playing multiple simultaneous games for all casino products (bringing this in line with slots); a prohibition on the celebrations of returns less than or equal to stake; and a requirement for operators to provide the net spend and net time information that is currently required for slots for casino games (excluding peer-to-peer poker). The new game design requirements will come into force on 17 January 2025. A security audit update will also be implemented, with one new control (5.23 Information security for use of cloud services) added to the existing set. 
• Direct marketing: a new requirement (5.1.12) will be introduced to the LCCP, effective 17 January 2025, which requires licensees to provide customers (as part of the registration process) with options to opt-in to direct marketing on a per product and per channel basis. The options must cover all products and channels provided by the licensee and be set to opt-out by default.
• Age verification in premises: the current exemption from carrying out age verification test purchasing for the smallest gambling premises will be removed, with the updates to the LCCP effective as of 30 August 2024.
   

19 April 2024 – Government response to Culture, Media and Sport Committee report on gambling regulation reform published

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee has published the Government’s response to its report on gambling regulation reform. The Committee’s report was published in December 2023 and concluded (amongst other things) that the Government should take a more precautionary approach to advertising than proposed in the White Paper (in particular calling for sports governing bodies to commit to cutting the volume of gambling adverts in stadiums). The Government has made no further commitments in this regard in its response.

27 March 2024 - Gambling Commission publishes response to consultation on frequency of regulatory returns

The Gambling Commission has published its consultation response to the consultation it ran from November 2023 to February 2024 in respect of the frequency of regulatory returns. The Commission has decided to require all licensees to submit returns quarterly (previously this obligation was annual for certain licensees) and will amend licence condition 15.3.1 of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice to provide for this. This change will be effective from 1 July 2024.  

23 February 2024 - Government confirms maximum stake limits for online slots

Following a 10 week consultation period, the Government has announced that from September 2024 (following the coming into force of secondary legislation) maximum stake limits will apply in respect of online slots. The stake limits will be £5 per spin for consumers aged 25 and over (bringing it in line with non-remote casinos), and £2 per spin for consumers aged between 18 and 24. 

22 February 2024 - Gambling Commission announces next steps for financial risk checks

The Gambling Commission has outlined its intended next steps in respect of the introduction of financial risk checks. In its statement, the Commission outlines a stepped introduction: “to ease the introduction of these checks they will initially come into force at a higher threshold for a short period of time, before reverting to a lower threshold later in the year to smooth implementation for consumers”.

The Commission also outline plans for a pilot, which will run for 4 – 6 months: “we consider that conducting a pilot period with a selection of operators will give us sufficient information to inform future decision-making. We will work closely with industry to make sure that we have a spread of different businesses – such as betting companies and casinos as well as some variation in the size of the organisation…Throughout this pilot period, gambling businesses will not be expected to act on the data they receive – this is to be a genuine pilot of how the data sharing works – but they will be expected to continue to protect consumers by implementing their own existing consumer safety controls and remaining compliant with our existing regulatory requirements”. 

21 December 2023 - Culture, Media and Sport Committee publishes report on gambling regulation reform

The Culture Media and Sport Committee has published a report setting out its proposals for gambling law reform. Whilst the report will not impact the implementation of the proposals set out in the White Paper directly, it illustrates the direction the Committee expects regulation to take nonetheless. 

15 December 2023 - Gambling Commission launches third tranche of consultations

The Gambling Commission has launched its third tranche of consultations relating to the White Paper. These focus on:

• changes to clarify the way financial penalties are calculated; and 
• changes to the rules on ownership/financial key event reporting.

The consultations (which can be accessed here) close on 15 March 2024.

29 November 2023 - Gambling Commission launches second tranche of consultations 

The Gambling Commission has launched its second tranche of consultations relating to the White Paper. These focus on:

• new rules on incentives (a ban or limit on wagering requirements and a ban on mixing product types within incentives); 
• changes to make sure that consumers who want to make use of pre-commitment tools (such as deposit limits) can do so easily; 
• a new requirement to remind customers if their funds are not protected in the event of insolvency;
• requiring all licensees to submit regulatory returns on a quarterly basis (instead of annually); and 
• removing the LCCP condition in respect of voluntary donations to fund research, prevention and treatment (assuming the new statutory levy being consulted on by the government is brought into force). 

The consultations (which can be accessed here) close on 21 February 2023.

17 October 2023 - Government launches consultation on levy on gambling revenues

The Government has published a consultation on the implementation of the new statutory levy proposed in the White Paper. Its proposal is that the levy will be 1% of gross gambling yield for online gambling operators and 0.4% of gross gambling yield for non-remote operators. The Government estimates the levy will raise £100 million per year, with such funds being used for research, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction. The levy will be mandatory (unlike the existing voluntary levy), with the Gambling Commission collecting it and distributing funding directly to the NHS and UK Research and Innovation. The consultation is open for responses for 8 weeks.

7 September 2023 - Gambling Commission addresses “misconceptions” regarding financial risk checks

In his latest blog post, Andrew Rhodes of the Gambling Commission has sought to address some “misconceptions” regarding requirements for financial risk checks that have emerged since the publication of the Commission’s consultation regarding the same six weeks ago. In particular, Rhodes claims that there will be “frictionless” financial risk assessments for an estimated 3 percent of gambling accounts, with only an estimated 0.3 percent ever being asked to provide information such as payslips or bank statements.

26 July 2023 - Gambling Commission launches first tranche of consultations 

The Gambling Commission has launched its first four consultations relating to the White Paper: financial risk and vulnerability; remote games design; improving consumer choice on direct marketing; and strengthening age verification in premises. The consultations (which can be accessed here) close on 18 October 2023.

26 July 2023 - Government launches online stake slot limit and land based consultations

The Government has launched its first two consultations relating to the White Paper, on online stake limits for slots games and measures relating to the land-based sector. The consultations (which can be accessed here and here) close on 20 September 2023 and 4 October 2023 respectively. 

7 July 2023 - Gambling Commission provides update on implementation

The Gambling Commission has provided an update on its plans for implementation of the various tasks assigned to it in the White Paper. It has confirmed that the first four consultation documents will be the following, which will be published in July:

• age verification in premises;
• remote games design;
• direct marketing and cross-selling; and 
• financial risk and vulnerability checks for remote operators.

These four consultations will be joined by two other non-White Paper related consultations (on personal management licences and regulatory panels).

19 June 2023 - Gambling Commission launches hub for operators engaging with third parties

In accordance with its instructions in the White Paper to “consolidate existing information and good practice for operators on contracting with third parties”, the Gambling Commission has launched a website hub focusing on operator responsibilities when working with non-licensed entities, including white label partners.

8 June 2023 - Gambling Commission publishes assessment of online games design changes

The Gambling Commission has published its assessment of the impact of the changes it introduced in October 2021 in respect of online slots products. The Commission claims “indications of reduced play intensity with no significant negative impacts on play or behaviours” can be seen. As set out in the White Paper, this is the first step the Commission was directed to take before consulting on product-wide design standards. 

3 May 2023 - Gambling Commission sets out plans for implementation of White Paper

Tim Miller, Executive Director of the Gambling Commission, has published a blog post setting out the Commission’s plans for implementation of the reforms set out in the White Paper. In his post, he notes that “the scale of work outlined in the White Paper is significant, and rightly so. This will be the dominant policy initiative for the Commission over the next few years as we move through the stages of development, implementation, evaluation and review”.

27 April 2023 – Gambling Commission publishes Gambling Act Review advice

The Gambling Commission has published its advice to the UK Government in respect of the Government’s review of the Gambling Act 2005.

27 April 2023 - Gambling White Paper published 

Having formally announced its review of the Gambling Act 2005 back in December 2020, the UK Government (after many false dawns and leaks) has finally published its White Paper. Various proposals are made in the paper, most notably:

• Mandatory financial risk checks (otherwise known as ‘affordability checks’) will be introduced. The Gambling Commission will consult on checks for moderate levels of spend (£125 net loss within a month or £500 within a year) and high levels of spend (£1,000 net loss within 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days).
• The Government proposes a stake limit for online slots, consulting on a limit of between £2 and £15 per spin (and lower limits for 18 to 24 year olds).
• The Gambling Commission will consult on mandating participation in a cross-operator harm prevention system, updating design rules for online products, and new controls for the design and targeting of incentives. 
• The Government will introduce a statutory levy paid by the industry to fund research, education and the treatment of gambling harms. 
• A non-statutory ombudsman will be appointed to deal with disputes and provide appropriate redress where a customer suffers losses due to operators’ social responsibility failures.
• Various restrictions for land-based operators will be relaxed or lifted altogether. The rules on gaming machines in casinos will be made more consistent (permitting an upper limit of 80 rather than 20 to all casinos), sports betting will be permitted in all casinos, and the ban on the direct use of debit cards on gaming machines will be overturned (once the Gambling Commission has consulted on options for cashless payments). The 80/20 ratio which restricts the balance of Category B and C/D machines in bingo and arcade venues will be relaxed to 50/50.