Gambling - Commission unveils new enforcement strategy
2017
Following their consultation earlier this year the Gambling Commission have published a new enforcement strategy which will be used to tackle operators who breach gambling regulations.
The new strategy, which takes immediate effect, includes the following key changes:
- Changes to the Commission’s statement on financial penalties including introducing higher penalties for breaches, particularly where it sees systemic and repeated failings.
- Putting all regulatory tools, including licence review (both of the operator and personal management licences), on an equal footing by removing the current bias in favour of settlement.
- Using time-limited discounts to create better incentives for early settlement.
A clear message from the Commission is their expectations for Operators to be proactive in dealing with issues and potential issues and further to demonstrate that they have learned from the mistakes of others.
As we have previously reported on several occasions, settlements between the Commission and Operators are accompanied with a detailed explanation of what has occurred, how it was remedied and the lessons learned e.g. Betfred’s 2016 settlement. Those who fail to learn the lessons may face more harsh treatment for future indiscretions.
Three key documents to help Operators understand the Commission’s approach are:
- Statement of principles for licensing and regulation – June 2017,
- Licensing, compliance and enforcement under the Gambling Act 2005: policy statement, and
Statement of principles for determining financial penalties.