UKGC’s Reveals its 2018-2019 Vision for its Business

Last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), the country’s leading gambling regulatory authority, revealed its 2018-2019 business plan. This document lays out the organization’s key strategic objectives for the upcoming year and it is the first of three similar plans in a strategy spanning a total of three years.

The business plan gives a clear indication of how the UKGC is intending to protect consumer interests in the coming 12 months. In the document, the UKGC also reveals details of what it intends to do to prevent the harm sometimes caused by gambling on players and on society more broadly. For example, the Commission plans to improve its regulatory activities, raise general standards in the country’s gambling industry and maximize the benefits of gambling for social causes, which are achieved through revenues generated by local lotteries.

The UKGC additionally states that it will be applying pressure to the UK gambling sector to produce special controls and protections at the outset of any product development process. Furthermore, the business plan reaffirms the Commission’s commitment to fast-tracking the measures being adopted to improve consumer interventions and tackle problem gambling and its potential public health implications.

UKGC’s business plan also provides some detail about the fee income it anticipates that it will receive in the 2018-2019 period. Fee revenues are categorized according to type of gambling activity, with the largest anticipated returns coming from sports betting (around 31%). It is expected that local casinos will contribute over a quarter of total fee income, around 27%, and gambling-related software will account for 17% of fee income. Bingo games (4%), arcades (6%), betting machines (7%) and society lotteries (8%) are the four other types of gambling activity expected to generate meaningful fee revenue.

UKGC Business Plan: What Do You Need to Know?

The UKGC’s business plan reveals what measures the organization is planning to take in the upcoming year to pursue its key objectives.

Protecting consumer interests: In terms of its objective to protect the interests of consumers, the UKGC states that it will strengthen rules on unfair practices and terms and will evaluate the protection measures that are currently in place. It also intends to strengthen the rules on gambling advertising. As part of its gambling advertising initiative, the regulatory body will investigate the public’s view on gambling advertising and will assess the impact of advertising on vulnerable and young people. Extra requirements are also planned for providers of alternative dispute resolution options.

Gambling-related harm

As part of its objective to safeguard consumers and the general public from the potential harm caused by gambling, the UKGC will introduce greater transparency regarding the revenue it receives from regulatory settlements and how this revenue is invested into research on safer gambling practices. Moreover, the use of operator data will be evaluated to reduce the potential for criminal activity and harm caused by gambling. Protections relating to customer interaction, verification and fairness issues will also be beefed up and the indicators used to identify gambling-related harm will be assessed.

Strengthening general gambling standards: The UKGC will improve the standards of the local gambling sector by carrying out strategic evaluations of crime and harm related to gambling. Additionally, the Commission will implement a program designed to highlight positive practices in the gambling industry, including carrying out events and publishing findings. Furthermore, the UKGC will support the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in its anti-laundering assessment processes and will advocate for any additional measures it deems necessary.

Maximize returns for social causes: The UKGC’s business plan reveals the Commission’s ambition to maximize the revenues provided to social causes through local lotteries. To achieve this, it will provide consumers with more information on the money that is raised through local lotteries and how it is used. A National Lottery Good Cause Returns model will also be established as an official framework to measure Camelot’s initiative to optimize the revenue generated for good causes.

Improving the regulation of the local gambling sector: The UKGC aims to improve how it regulates the local gambling sector by creating a panel with an advisory function and delivering the second and third stages of its licensing project, which is intended to automate the licensing process and make it more transparent and simpler.