Gambling - Commission Consultation on Remote Gambling and Software Testing Issued

The Gambling Commission recently published a consultation aimed at proposed changes to the testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards.

The consultation runs until 11^th February next year. The GC indicate they want to receive views from not only operators but from “test houses and those with an interest in the testing of remote gambling product”.

This is quite a technical area.

In summary the consultation seeks views on the following;

• a simplified approach to defining major and minor updates to games and software so that licensed operators, test houses and consumers  understand which products require external testing prior to release
• greater scope for minor updates, which do not affect game fairness, to be tested in-house
• a more streamlined approach to testing of multiple updates in the event that, for example, games are affected by a change to the remote gambling system (RGS) or random number generator (RNG)
• further guidance in relation to the roll-out of existing games onto new channels, eg where a game originally released as a flash game is redeveloped as HTML 5 or as a native mobile app
• effective return to player (RTP) monitoring to ensure variations in payments to consumers can quickly be identified and resolved 
• an independent annual audit requirement to provide assurance that operators are correctly identifying and managing game updates. 

The GC commsnt as follows;

“The complexity of the online gambling market and growth in our regulatory sphere have reinforced the need to ensure that the standards set out in the Testing Strategy remain clear, transparent and promote an efficient and effective approach to regulation”

A full release by the GC can be found here and that in turn links to the consultation response form.

We reiterate our oft repeated view that it is extremely important for those operators that may be affected by any consultation to ensure their voice is heard by responding.