How the UKGC is Reducing Gambling Related Harm?
Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, May 14, 2019
When the UKGC unveiled its core strategic objectives through 2021, it was clear that the regulator was committed to safeguarding the interests of players nationwide. At the heart of this was an overwhelming desire to protect vulnerable gamblers, whether they were underage or prone to addition.
This desire has already manifested itself in a number of different measures, from a clampdown on unfair terms and conditions to the sanctioning of operators that singularly fail to protect vulnerable gamblers effectively.
The latest proposals will seek to reduce gambling-related harm, whilst the UK regulator is also urging operators to comply with existing laws and consumer protection guidelines. We’ll explore this further below, whilst asking what the new measures mean for UK brands.
What Are the UKGC’s Latest Measures?
It was last week when the Gambling Commission announced its latest round of measures, as part of a three-year National Strategy review to Reduce Gambling Harms.
Officially launched on April 25th, this review confirmed that the regulator would adopt a public health approach to minimising the harm caused by online gambling.
It’s also apparent that the UKGC will collaborate closely with operators, researchers and health authorities to sustainably reduce gambling-related harm, to create proactive and reactive measures that adequately protect players.
As part of this brand new strategy, Public Health England (PHE) will also conduct a nationwide review of the harm caused by gambling, by assessing the true scale of problem gaming its impact on individuals, their families and society as a whole.
This part of the review will also assess the effectiveness of all existing policies and measures, highlighting where the UKGC is going wrong and the areas in which it needs to improve going forward.
From a more specific perspective, the Commission will place significant demands on iGaming operators by requiring them to be completely transparent about the dangers of online gambling. This includes its potential links to depression and mental health issues, alongside more recognisable factors such as debt, crime and the breakdown of romantic relationships.
Other practical steps will include the introduction of compulsory age-verification tools, which will provide an added layer of security that prevents children from accessing gambling sites and content. At the same time, the UKGC introduced new rules on May 7th, which will require operators to thoroughly verify new players before they make a deposit.
At present, operators have up to 72 hours to conduct age and identity verification checks, during which time players can open an account and make a deposit. However, this creates issues when the times to complete a withdrawal, as these earnings may be held by the operator until their age and identification have been independently confirmed.
More worryingly, this enables underage and potentially vulnerable gamblers to access online casinos in the UK, so the new legislation should provide far greater protections for these individuals.
In the eyes of the UKGC, this creates a significant challenge for problem gamblers, who may well end up funding their pastime using borrowed money.
As part of its collaborative approach with operators, the UKGC is also proposing a mandatory levy for every commercial entity that participates in the online gambling sector.
According to some estimates, this could bring in up to £58 million more in funding for responsible gambling initiatives, and while the government’s sports ministry surprisingly ignored this recommendation, this is something that could well come into play in the future.
This is especially true when you consider the rising rates of addiction amongst adults and children in the UK, with the number of problem gamblers having now increased to more than 400,000.
The number of problem gamblers aged between 11 and 16 has also quadrupled during the last two years or so, and securing a higher level of funding for responsible gambling initiatives is becoming an increasingly pressing need.
On a final note, the UKGC is also focusing on investing in more comprehensive research programs to identify risk groups and explore the long-term impact of gambling addiction with greater depth and efficiency.
So, in addition to refining best practices within the industry and collaborating more closely with operators (and well as imposing heavy sanctions on firms that fail to comply), the Commission is also striving to understand the impact of gambling-harm and protect those who are at risk of addiction going forward.
Conclusion
There’s a sense that this represents something of a long-term strategy for the UKGC, particularly given the complexity of working with different organisations and empowering them to deliver on a clearly-defined vision.
There’s also a great deal of work to be done within the sector, with key issues such as online advertising and social gaming playing a significant (but as yet unproven) role in gambling-related harm.
Whilst leading iGaming operators recently agreed to a blanket advertising ban during live sports broadcasts, for example, the fact remains that operators currently spend around five times more on digital marketing channels.
Not only this, but there’s a growing number of gambling-inspired social games available through sites such as Facebook, where people can register for an account from as young as 13.
These will undoubtedly become key priorities for the Commission in the near-term, as it continues to work towards achieving its core strategic objectives and reducing the impact of gambling-related harm in the UK.