UKGC to Change Penalty System to Increase Compliance

Tim Miller, the UK Gambling Commission’s executive director, has said that there will be changes made to the way that the authority hands out penalties and its consultation format.

Speaking at the CMS Law Conference, Miller said that there would be some consultations on changes in the near future, including the way that financial penalties for breaching the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) are calculated. He said that the purpose of the changes is to increase both compliance and transparency.

He also said that the UKGC is considering expanding the personal management license regime to enhance accountability.

In regards to consultations, Miller said that the Commission is examining possible changes to how they are carried out following feedback on the process. He said that the feedback found that the Commission will “find an issue and we push out a consultation, regardless of what else is going on or what else we have asked operators to do or provide views on at that time. This makes it hard for stakeholders to plan the time needed to respond and, where necessary, to implement changes.”

As a result of the feedback, future consultations will be carried out with a new format. The UKGC will launch “consultation windows” during which it will publish proposed changes in a more structured manner.

Miller also gave some details about how the UKGC will change the way it measures rates of gambling participation and harm. The results of a pilot study on Britain’s gambling behavior were published in May, and Miller said that they are still working on ways to ensure that the data is as reliable as possible.

We’ll be using the next year to analyze the new methodology further, correcting issues where we find them and scaling it up, so it’s ready to become the new ‘gold standard’ of participation and prevalence. Of course, the data we released from the pilot also got coverage. We understand that – new problem gambler data – whether at an appropriate scale or from a pilot, will always be of interest. But we’d like to be clear that the pilot data can not be used as an estimate of problem gambling at this stage.

Tim MillerUKGC Executive Director