A report released by parliamentary members in the UK is demanding a “root-and-branch” overhaul of gambling law. According to the group, which includes high-profile Conservatives such as Iain Duncan Smith, online casinos should be subject to maximum stake limits similar to the £2 limits imposed on fixed-odds betting terminals, and a host of measures should be implemented to protect vulnerable people.
The report, according to the Guardian, echoed Labour’s call for the Gambling Act 2005 to be replaced, and dismissed the existing law as “analogue legislation in a digital age,” ill-suited to regulating an online sector that earns £5.6 billion (US$7.163 billion) a year.
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling-Related Harm feel they have a good chance of influencing gambling policy, regardless of the outcome of the general election.
Labour, which liberalized gambling laws under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, has already said it favors a stricter approach, while current Prime Minister Boris Johnson is sympathetic to calls for more stringent regulations. Johnson openly criticized the government over a proposed delay to the curbs on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) introduced earlier this year.
The interim report, led by Labour’s Carolyn Harris, Duncan Smith from the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party’s Ronnie Cowan, is the result of a six-month investigation including evidence sessions with gambling companies and addicts.
Among the recommendations in the report, due to be published this week, is a maximum £2 bet on online slot machines. This would echo the ban on £100-a-spin FOBTs introduced earlier this year after the government branded the machines a “social blight” following a lengthy campaign. “If they are not acceptable in land-based venues they should not be allowed online,” the report said.
The members also backed calls to stop credit cards being used to gamble—as well as the introduction of mandatory affordability checks—to make sure customers don’t get into financial difficulty.
The average disposable income in Britain is £450 (US$575) a month, but online casinos and bookmakers often check on customers’ finances only after they have lost thousands of pounds. The members also recommended restrictions on VIP accounts, frequently cited in cases where problem gamblers racked up huge debts after being offered incentives such as free sport tickets or bonuses.
Brigid Simmonds, OBE, chairwoman of the industry’s Betting and Gaming Council, said gambling companies are “committed to ensuring a safe gambling experience for all customers, using the wide range of tools that online operators have at their disposal.”
“Our members continue to invest significantly in new technology to make full use of data and algorithms to identify risk of harm and interact with customers at an early stage, and to introduce new affordability checks on customers,” she said.
But the report said gambling companies have not said what level of gambling they consider affordable, and therefore cannot reliably intervene when customers are losing dangerous amounts.
“This report highlights the urgent need for a review of the regulation of online gambling,” said Harris, who oversaw the report. She singled out the Gambling Commission, saying it was not fit for purpose in the age of internet gambling and required greater powers to sanction companies.
A spokesperson for the Gambling Commission said, “We are disappointed that this report has been released before we have been given the chance to give evidence. The report does not reflect our considerable action and progress on most of the areas of concern set out in the report and we look forward to being given the chance to outline that work.”
The report also calls for online firms to improve their systems to identify vulnerable people and protect children, as well as to simplify terms and conditions. Duncan Smith said, “It is outrageous that there are not stake limits online, that gamblers are still able to gamble using credit cards online and that operators are able to continue to offer inducements to the vulnerable without proper sanction.”
The recommendations resulted in a downturn in gambling stocks. GVC Holdings Plc shares traded down 9.2 percent, William Hill Plc fell 7.8 percent, and 888 Holdings Plc declined 5.4 percent, according to Bloomberg. The interim report singled out Kenny Alexander, GVC’s chief executive officer, for his “cowardly behavior” in refusing to appear before their interview panel. The proposals, if implemented, “would be highly counterproductive and do far more harm than good,” Alexander said.
In related news, some of Britain’s top betting companies have committed £10 million towards measures which hope to support the UK Gambling Commission’s National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. The four-year program will be designed and run by two gambling charities which educate children across the country.
The companies, including William Hill and the parent companies of Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, said this contribution speaks to the commitment to prevent underage gambling and protect young people. They will also ask banks to help block those under 18 from placing bets with these companies, and figure out how to stop children from seeing gambling advertisements on the internet.
These steps also signal a desire to insure that acting responsibly is at the heart of gambling businesses, said Peter Jackson, the chief executive of Flutter Entertainment, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair.
“These commitments are an important step forward for the sector in their own right and also signal a genuine desire to ensure that acting responsibly is at the heart of our businesses,” Jackson told SBCNews.
Jackson added that these commitments speak to a mandate of “preventing underage gambling and protect young people; increasing support for treatment of gambling harm; strengthening and expanding codes of practice for advertising and marketing; protecting and empowering our customers and; promoting a culture of safer gambling”.
The five core safer gambling commitments will hope to deliver long-term and fundamental changes in how gambling companies are run in the UK and how they empower, protect and support their customers.
Education is essential if young people are to understand the risks of gambling, said Anna Hemmings, CEO of GamCare, which will help run the education push. “Then they are able to make informed decisions about their participation in these activities and think critically about them before doing so.”
Lee Willows, founder and CEO of Young Gamers and the Gamblers Education Trust, said, “In collaboration with GamCare the trust will deliver a national education program to raise awareness of the risks of gambling as well as help build digital resilience among young people. The transparent way in which this program will be reported on and evaluated is helpful to aid public understanding of its impact and further raise awareness.”
In addition to William Hill and Flutter, the council includes Aspers, bet365, Caesars, Genting, GVC, Playtech, the Rank Group, and Sky Betting & Gaming.
In a bid to improve transparency and accountability, the CEOs have also committed to regular and public checks with an independent monitoring and evaluation process consistent with the best practice approach used by public bodies, including the UK Gambling Commission, Her Majesty’s Treasury and the UK Evaluation Society.
Showing his support for the new commitments, Tim Miller, executive director of the UKGC, said, “Through the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms we have been clear on the important role for greater collaboration and partnership working across the industry, alongside robust regulatory action by us. We have been encouraged by moves across the industry in recent months to work together on player protection and hope that this program marks another step forward by gambling companies in delivering on the ambitions in the national strategy.”
