Yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) delivered a speech at the ARQ Conference in Malta. Mr Neil McArthur covered a number of broad issues associated with gambling and strongly criticised Malta-based gambling operators, revealing that such companies currently generate over 30% of the overall British gambling revenue.
Mr McArthur started his keynote speech with some facts about the regulation of the UK gambling market. According to him, before the implementation of the 2014 legislation, the UKGC had managed to regulate only about 15% of the online gambling market used by the country’s customers. Since the end of 2014, the major gambling regulatory body of the UK has been monitoring and controlling all commercial gambling operations accessible to British customers, regardless of the location where the operator is based.
Our Chief Executive Neil McArthur gave a speech in Malta today to raise standards among overseas gambling businesses targeting British consumers. You can read the full speech here: https://t.co/nIIKl7j00j pic.twitter.com/ksTUvjcjrf
— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) October 30, 2019
The boss of the UKGC added that over the past few years, the Commission has undertaken stricter regulatory work, especially in terms of online gambling services. He reminded that 2018 it undertook actions involving 123 online casino companies to make them better aware of the compliance standards they had to follow. As a result, the watchdog addressed 45 online casino operators, urging them to submit an action plan aimed at raising their standards. Enforcement investigation actions were initiated against a further 14 online casino companies.
Mr McArthur said that 7 operators paid penalty packages that total £18 million, while 5 gambling companies surrendered their operating licences. In addition, 3 PMLs surrendered their licences.
The UKGC boss, however, criticised some Maltese gambling operators. He shared that more than half of the gambling companies that were forced to submit action plans (24 out of 45) are based in Malta. The same applies to the operators who were forced to pay penalty packages to the Commission (5 out of 7), and the ones that surrendered their UK licences.
Online Gambling and Mobile Gambling Has Increased Over the Last Five Years
The first annual Enforcement Report of the UKGC was published in 2018. The second one followed in April 2019. Mr McArthur reminded that the main goal of these reports is to encourage gambling operators to make sure they offer safer and fairer services to their customers in the UK and beyond.
Back in 2017, the main gambling regulator in the country held consultations on changes to its own enforcement strategy. As a result from the consultations, it brought some changes in the enforcement approach, including the introduction of higher penalties in cases of repeated and systemic failures, using all regulatory tools available, creating better incentives for early settlement through time-limited discounts, etc.
As the UKGC head explained, a lot of changes were brought in the gambling sector over the last five years. Not only online gambling has grown in popularity thanks to the progress of technologies, but there were some other changes in the industry. Since 2014/15, the retail gambling sector has stayed relatively stable, but the gross gaming yield of online gambling operations has increased by 58%. The use of mobile phones has also seen massive surge over the last four years. According to information revealed by the UKGC, about 44% of 10.5 million consumers use their mobile phones to gamble nowadays.
Once again, Malta-based operators have taken massive part in web-based gambling services. Such companies currently account for more than 30% of the online gross gaming yield, up from around 10% back in 2014.
UKGC Remains Focused on Providing Fairer and Safer Gambling Environment to Consumers
During his speech at the ARQ Conference in Malta, Mr McArthur also spoke of the opportunities to reduce the risk for more vulnerable people, as well as for the ones who are already classified as problem gamblers.
In the light of the UKGC’s efforts to raise standards, he has reminded that the gambling industry watchdog has lately been encouraging companies to watch for indicators of gambling harm, gambling advertising, customer interaction and affordability. These factors include:
- the specific customer behaviour that could indicate possible issues with compulsive gambling;
- the level of exposure of marketing and advertising materials which gambling companies unveil in the media and online;
- the way gambling operators identify and interact with patrons who may be at risk of becoming problem gamblers or are already dealing with gambling addiction
The head of the UKGC further shared that the UK gambling regulatory authority plans to remain focused on the provision of fairer and safer gambling services. The watchdog would address its concerns linked to using credit cards for gambling – an issue which has been a matter of an ongoing consultation. Apart from that, the UKGC would remain focused on controlling betting stakes’ limits, introducing further customer protection measures and exploiting all available tools to encourage some changes in the sector which would protect the best interests of customers, especially when it comes to inducements and VIP schemes.
- Author
Olivia Cole
