Gambling Commission CEO: Media coverage won’t improve unless the industry finds better stories to tell
Neil McArthur warns the industry a culture change is needed following the publication of the UKGC’s first enforcement report
Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur has warned the industry it needs “better stories to tell” if it wants to receive more positive press coverage from the mainstream media.
Several news outlets have written stories about the so-called “epidemic of gambling addiction sweeping the UK’ in recent weeks, and McArthur suggested the problem was more than just bad PR from the industry.
“I would turn that around and ask what has the industry done to deserve good press?” McArthur told EGR Compliance. “What are they doing to demonstrate they are treating consumers fairly and keeping them safe? I think there’s an opportunity to get better news stories if progress is made here.”
Speaking exclusively to EGR Compliance, McArthur also identified the lack of progress made by operators in addressing issues identified by the Commission.
“If lessons aren’t learnt, operators will find themselves faced with a regulator prepared to relentlessly escalate the enforcement actions it takes until firms reach the standards we require,” he said.
The call comes following the first-time publication of the UKGC’s enforcement action report for 2017-18, which details the regulator’s actions over the past year and the improvements it wants operators to make.
Neil McArthur, CEO of the UK Gambling Commission
McArthur said the report, which is intended for senior management, has been published for the first-time to help operators “learn the lessons from past cases,” and to “help them make the business case to boards and investors about the importance of investing in compliance.”
Among the areas highlighted in the report are the treatment of VIP customers by operators who, according to the UKGC, are “not being sufficiently challenged as to their source of funds”.
“Often, simple open-source checks can cast doubt on assertions or assurances given by such customers” the report notes. “We have seen repeated examples of individual, high spending customers ‘slipping through the net’.”
The UKGC has come under scrutiny in recent months for “getting out of control” and using fines as a “profit centre for good causes”, in the words on one gaming executive.
McArthur dismissed the accusation as “absurd”, adding: “The purpose of enforcement is to target action that drives a culture of improvement.
“The penalties are proportionate to the seriousness of failings we found. We stepped up those fines because they were not creating the behaviour change we wanted to see. If operators refuse to change, they will find themselves in a difficult place.”
McArthur replaced Sarah Harrison as CEO of the Gambling Commission earlier this year.