The boss of the UK Gambling Commission posted a warning addressed to all industry stakeholders, saying that the increased focus on the gambling sector over the past year is not likely to be offset over the upcoming months. The Chief Executive Officer of the regulatory watchdog Sarah Harrison announced that the the close monitoring and the seriousness of responsible gambling policies would become even more serious in the future.
Mr. Harrison took part in the World Regulatory Briefing which took place in London earlier this week. The event was focused on responsible gambling innovations and gathered a large audience to discuss various issues related to gambling regulation, as well as data accumulation and analysis and future regulatory requirements over the territory of Europe.
While delivering the keynote address at the Briefing, Mr. Harrison commented that all issues related to the “normalisation” of the country’s gambling society, including fixed odds betting terminals, gambling advertising, betting shops employees as well as crime linked to gambling activities had long been some of the key topics for public debates. According to her, they are especially important when it comes to raising questions around the prominence of gambling operations.
The UKGC CEO predicted that the large public debate related to fixed odds betting terminals would not be eliminated. She reminded that the new All Party Parliamentary Group that had been recently established, was looking forward to being presented with some evidence on the fixed odds betting machines’ impact.
Mr. Harrison once again emphasised on the number of customer complaints, saying that the industry needed to do a lot of work in order to properly address such issues. She also reminded that the matters of problem gambling funding should also be of paramount importance to industry stakeholders.
Up to date, the gambling operators on the territory of the country voluntarily contribute a total of £6.5 million for problem gambling research, analysis, education and treatment. However, the UKGC CEO shared her concerns that such a sum was “nowhere near enough.”
Still, a new National Responsible Gaming Strategy is expected to be officially released. This is believed to address the issues associated with problem gambling to another level. It is also expected to make the chairman of the Responsible Gaming Trust Kate Lampard develop a special research plan and do everything possible in order to secure such funding methods that would take care of the National Strategy implementation for a period of three years.
- Author
Daniel Williams
