The UK Gambling Commission is organizing a Manchester-based workshop that will focus on common safety and transparency requirements, as well as on customer protection requirements.
The workshop, which is backed by Manchester City Council and is to be held at Performance Spaces Central Library, is being held as part of a series of nationwide workshops aimed especially at smaller gambling operators which offer their services under operating licenses issued by the UK gambling regulatory watchdog. The organizers have invited representatives from the smaller gambling operators in the Manchester’s region to attend the workshop, with them including businesses which operate in the sports betting, arcade and bingo industry.
As mentioned above, the main topics that are expected to be discussed at the time of the workshop, are associated with compliance with existing gambling legislation in the country, tackling money laundering and setting reliable customer protection measures by offering British gamblers stay safe from possible gambling-related harm by offering them multi-operator self-exclusion scheme and adequate risk assessments.
The Executive Director Compliance and Licensing of the UKGC, Helen Venn, explained that raising standards over the entire gambling sector of the country was a matter of paramount importance, which is why it was set as the centrepiece of the Gambling Commission’s latest strategy aimed at keeping a well-regulated gambling market that actually works for consumers.
Ms. Venn further explained that the series of workshops organized by the UKGC nationwide provided smaller gambling companies with the chance to become more engaged with the importance of legislation compliance, anti-money laundering and social responsibility matters.
Social Responsibility Becomes an Issue of Paramount Importance
For some time now, social responsibility measures have been a matter of discussions in the UK gambling sector. Earlier this year the UKGC made a number of recommendations to the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in order to make sure that the local gambling industry will see better social responsibility measures and policies imposed.
Social responsibility measures have become widely-discussed especially in terms with the UK Government’s review of controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which have been considered some of the major reasons for spreading gambling addiction rates among local customers. At the time when the recommendations were made, the UK Gambling Commission has explained that the local gambling sector needs to impose more restrictions so that customers are well-protected from gambling-related harm.
The UKGC has now explained that local risk assessments are aimed at helping companies make sure that all possible risks are evaluated and taken into account when running their business, including the gambling shops and venues’ proximity to schools or shelters situated nearby. On the other hand, self-exclusion schemes offered to customers help them to take some steps to control their compulsive gambling habits.
- Author
Daniel Williams
