No plans to introduce online staking limits, says Gambling Commission

There are no immediate plans to introduce FOBT-style stake limits on online gambling, according to UK Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur.

Speaking on last night’s BBC Panorama show Addicted to Gambling, McArthur said: “We’ve not yet reached a point where we would impose limits on stakes or limits on prizes.

He added: “The information operators have on customers means they ought to be able to keep players safe and playing with money they can afford and allowing them to play in a way the keeps them protected from risk of problem gambling.”

A player gambling online is subject to ID verification as well as anti-money laundering and source-of-wealth checks.

The industry has long been concerned that online gambling could be next in the cross-hairs for campaigners and regulators following cuts to FOBT stakes, with then-Rank CEO Henry Birch warning back in 2017 it was “inevitable”.

The fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) also changed its name to the Gambling Related Harm APPG earlier this year amid a pledge to refocus on the online gambling sector.

Really disappointing to hear @GamRegGB saying “we’ve not yet reached a point where we would impose stakes or limits on prizes because the information the operators have…mean that they ought to be able to keep players safe” #Panorama #gambling

— Dr Stephanie Bramley (@stephbramley) August 12, 2019

However, operators have echoed a similar philosophy to McArthur in that blanket stake cuts would not make sense online.

Wes Himes, interim chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association, told EGR earlier this year: “A stake and prize limit would be ineffective in an environment where a customer could simply move to an unregulated site, an outcome no-one wants in terms of protecting customers.

Former 32Red CEO Ed Ware said for the same story: “Unlike in the bricks-and-mortar casinos, online customers wishing to bet big, having managed to be age-verified, proved they have the wealth to bet and had their inside leg measurement taken, may be disappointed with £5 per spin in the future. This demand will look elsewhere for its high stakes casino entertainment.”

Reactions to last night’s Panorama show

JackpotJoy spokesperson

“We are deeply sympathetic to the unfortunate personal circumstances experienced by Amanda during her playing period with us. As a loyal customer, we had frequent and personal engagement with her over the course of six years, which involved advising on, and encouraging the use of, our responsible gambling tools. This included the use of deposit limits, cooling-off periods and alternative withdrawal methods; tools which Amanda was aware of and used during the time she played with us.

“We have always acted in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements, as we understood them to be at the time. These requirements have significantly evolved over time and notably so since the time when Amanda was playing regularly with us. Consequently, our responsible gambling strategy has also evolved. This has led to ongoing investment in customer service and new technologies, which allow our customers to enjoy a fun and safe playing environment.”

What’s the point of even having a regulator and a licensing regime if licenses aren’t going to get revoked off the back of some of the appalling behaviour exposed by #bbcpanorama ….some online gambling firms’ entire business models are “extract as much as possible from addicts”

— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) August 12, 2019

Ladbrokes Coral spokesperson

“The case featured by Panorama dates back to 2013-2016, prior to the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral by GVC in 2018. Since that period the Group has transformed its safer gambling processes, having made significant investment, not only financial but also in the terms of human resources and technological advancements. These efforts culminated in the launch of GVC’s industry-leading ‘Changing for the Bettor’ responsible gambling strategy in January 2019, which encapsulates a comprehensive package of measures designed to better understand the issues around problem gambling and to protect and treat vulnerable individuals.

“As an industry we have acknowledged the need to improve in the area of safer gaming and collectively, we have made huge strides in the past 12 months addressing areas such as marketing with the introduction of the whistle-to-whistle advertising ban; investment, with the ‘big five’s’ commitment to a ten-fold increase into research, education and treatment and; on interventions through progress on developing industry wide markers for harm and safer gambling tools. In each of these areas GVC is at the forefront of improving standards.”

#addictedtogambling thoughts thread: 1) More, independent research needed in to problem gambling funded by the significant tax income raised through regulated gaming. Pointing the finger at gambling companies blaming them from extracting money from people doesn’t suffice…

— Tom Galanis (@TomGalanis) August 12, 2019

David Clifton, director, Clifton Davies Consulting

“The BBC’s headline “Gambling companies see huge rise in complaints” needs to be seen in its proper context. Its article doesn’t explain that all remote gambling operators targeting UK customers are now subject to UK regulation, compared with the less than 15% of such operators prior to introduction of the place of consumption licensing regime prior to 1 November 2014. That alone will explain why the number of complaints to the Commission has risen appreciably over the last five years. However, of very material consequence is the fact that, since that time, considerably more emphasis has been placed on making consumers aware of their right to complain about gambling businesses.

“In this respect, no mention is made in the BBC’s article of the industry’s constructive response to the Gambling Commission’s declared campaign since 2015 to “put more power in the hands of the consumer”, including by way of considerably more accessible, customer friendly and free of charge complaints and disputes processes in line with (a) more robust LCCP social responsibility code provisions and (b) European law requirements (i.e. the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015).”

“When commenting on refusals to pay out winning bets and accusations that operators have failed to operate in a socially responsible way, the article makes no mention of the proportion of complaints that have been resolved by operators at the first stage of the complaints process (which has historically been a high proportion) or the findings of ADR entities in relation to the relatively small number of unresolved/contested disputes of this nature.

“It also makes no mention of the recent work of the CMA (and the online gambling sector’s positive response to that work) that has served to bring about a marked improvement in online gambling operators’ consumer protection practices and, it is to be assumed, a corresponding reduction in volume of complaints. Finally, it is worthy of note that the Gambling Commission sees a potential positive in the increased number of complaints since 2014, its current CEO Neil McArthur suggesting that this may have arisen in part from the industry getting to know its customers better and he considers this to be “possibly a good sign” in terms of customers demanding more of gambling operators.”

#Panorama

I'm so angry watching this. I've met most featured. Heard their storie, feel their pain

WE CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS ANYMORE.

Neil Mcarthur you cant really believe you are doing a good job.

— Carolyn Harris MP (@carolynharris24) August 12, 2019

Peter Murray, head of gaming, Alexem Services

“Refusing to pay out on winning bets was sometimes explained away by the fact that operators were obliged to conduct Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD). However, many are left to the end of the process and critically after the player could deposit and play. The UKGC has addressed this, and it is no longer acceptable to do this. Moving EDD checks to the front of the onboarding process is much more transparent but will naturally increase friction and the one thing customers in the online world hate is friction! However, the UKGC has addressed this and the industry seems to have taken note.”

“Social responsibility is THE key issue for operators today, not just in the UK but beyond, and the requirement to put the customer at the heart of the industry is paramount. All of the recent fines are related to this or AML process failures and as with the Ladbrokes/Coral fine a couple of weeks ago, they related to issues in 2017.The UKGC themselves acknowledged that the company had changed it’s processes and put safeguards in place since then. There are some laudable examples of the industry pulling together in order to address this (the £100m fund to address harm minimisation) However this is going to be the focus until the industry in a sector that is so high profile for media and politicians.”

“There are always those operators (many of which are not licenced here in the UK) that will fail to raise the bar in line with industry expectations, and gain an advantage from failing to do so, but from my experience over the last 12 years the industry are finally taking these issue extremely seriously, they are critical to their operations and the sustainability of their businesses and they are the single biggest issue the operators are trying to address at the moment.”

Warwick Bartlett, CEO, Global Betting and Gaming Consultants

“Complaints on the internet are often dealt with by the chat line with one operator dealing with numerous customers at the same time so the explanations are brief without the customer fully understanding the decision. In an ultra-competitive market, with so many bonus offers and conditions the customers become confused by the terms and conditions and this very often leads to a dispute. It would be interesting to know how many of those 8,266 complaints were found to be in the favour of the gambler.”