Compliance – A Key Focus For UKGC CEO Rhodes
In his latest industry briefing, Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes hailed progress on compliance. Although there are visible improvements in assessment outcomes, he noted there is still work to be done.
UKGC CEO Highlights Industry’s Compliance Improvements
Compliance is improving across the gambling industry but there is still work to be done, says the chief executive of the UK Gambling Commission.
In his latest briefing to the industry, Andrew Rhodes said the body has seen a “significant change in the last few years” when it comes to compliance.
He pointed out improvements have included the introduction of a new compliance code that was launched by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) earlier this year.
However, the BGC’s code is entirely voluntary, and some experts have criticised it for not going far enough, while the UK continues to have some of the world’s loosest gambling regulations.
That could change in the coming years with reform of the industry having been included in Labour’s manifesto ahead of the 2024 general election.
While Labour triumphed, new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has yet to give an update on his party’s plans, but the Gambling Commission is sure to be involved.
Much-Changed Picture
Rhodes said in his briefing, which was delivered on November 14, that an “absence of policies” regarding the issue of compliance had been seen in the past.
He pointed out that adherence to compliance rules and regulations was often “poor” across the industry and said that some interventions or interactions lacked meaning.
“All things develop over time, and we see a much-changed picture today. In our assessments now, we see far fewer examples of high-velocity spend with little or no interaction or the application of operator policy,” Rhodes said in his industry briefing.
“Where we see issues, they are often different to those we saw in the past. Now, we are talking to operators about the speed of interaction taking place and how operators are applying that learning to their processes. Let’s be clear – this is a very different situation we find ourselves in.”
Volatility In Assessment Outcomes
One area where improvements are still needed for the UK’s gambling industry is in assessment outcomes, where Rhodes noted there is still some “volatility”.
He said more than two-thirds (42%) of the assessments that were carried out between April and June returned ‘Good’ or ‘Satisfactory’ results on consumer protection requirements.
But the data for the July to September period demonstrated a clear improvement, with 75% of the assessment producing a ‘Good’ or ‘Satisfactory’ rating.
This left a quarter (25%) of the companies with assessment outcomes carried out with significant failings, compared to almost 60% with either improvement required or significant failings results in the second quarter of the year.
Regardless, Rhodes issued “a small note of caution” despite improvements, adding: “Any operator of any real size and scale now who does not have well-developed algorithms, policies, procedures, interactions and interventions in place is increasingly an outlier and this will become more obvious as the industry continues to make developments in this area.”
