New UKGC Measures On Safer Gambling To Strengthen Industry Code

Sometimes it feels as though the entire world has stopped operating as normal in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the United Kingdom Gambling Commission continues to keep the British betting industry in check. The need to reduce problem gambling harms has arguably never been more important, especially as millions of people remain at home with time on their hands.

As a result, the UKGC has published a set of measures and directives that it believes will strengthen the gambling industry code, hopefully reducing the number of people who will suffer gambling related issues. VIP programmes and advertising practices were high on the list of issues that the Gambling Commission still feels need further addressing.

Protecting Vulnerable Customers Is Key

At the heart of the changes that the United Kingdom Gambling Commission is looking to make to its industry code is a desire to protect the most vulnerable. It sees this as a critical part of its agenda, cooperating with ‘industry working groups’ in order to ensure that they have both realistic and useful ambitions in terms of changes that can be made to the gambling industry as a whole.

The working groups feature executives from 30 UK operators, which was co-ordinated with the help of the Betting and Gaming Council. Perhaps the most striking thing about some of the UKGC’s new measures is that they are to be implemented by the 14th of April, with Gambling Commission CEO Neil McArthur believing speed is of the essence.

He said:

“We set these challenges in order to deliver real and rapid change for consumers in key areas of risk. However, it is important these commitments are implemented as soon as possible. It should not take months to implement safeguards many would expect to be in place already…We will now consult on the necessary changes to our rule book”.

What Changes Are Coming In

The biggest change that the industry will have to cope with is in how it deals with VIP programmes and the associated incentives. From the 14th of April betting companies will have to do the following:

• Prevent customers under the age of 25 from being recruited onto high-value customer schemes
• Cross-reference all customers with spending, safe gambling and any appropriate enhanced due diligence measures in advance of them qualifying for a VIP scheme
• Operate reward programmes will have to be fully audited
• They will always have to be able to demonstrate detailed decision making, as well as senior oversight and accountability

VIP schemes have been under scrutiny for some time, with the Gambling Commission actually considering whether to ban them altogether after it emerged that betting firms widely rely on them for profit. That is not an issue in and of itself, but research has shown that VIP customers are disproportionately more likely to be problem gamblers.

Looking After The Youth

Another key part of the UKGC’s plans is the desire to look after young people wherever possible. The Gambling Commission plans to move forward with its AdTech initiatives, calling on the industry to put a number of things in place by July 2020. One such thing will be an index of common negative search terms, such as ‘how do I self-exclude from gambling?’

Suppression websites will also be indexed, hopefully leading to the shielding of vulnerable groups from gambling adverts online. Customer data will also be used to try to make sure paid-for-adverts are pointed away from vulnerable groups where possible. Pay-per-click advertising will also be targeted away from people under 25 whenever it can be.

YouTube channels that feature gambling related content will have to be ‘age-gated’, whilst affiliates and advertising partners will be required to adopt a code of conduct. This will be updated regularly in order to ensure that the measures are undertaken by everyone involved in the industry.

New Advertising Measures

The new advertising measures being put forward by the Gambling Commission will be enshrined in the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling’s Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising, which will help in clamping down on businesses that don’t follow the new ruling. A new cross-industry Adtech Forum has also been formed.

The aim of this forum is to make sure that businesses already on board are doing more to progress in the area of advertising. That includes the likes of conducting trials on advertising technologies and then evaluating those trials. Any and all changes are being made with vulnerable customers in mind, aiming to limit any damage that may be done to them.

Safer Products Also On The Table

As well as changes that can be made to advertising and things that can be done to help the most vulnerable, the Gambling Commission is also hoping to come up with a new code for developing safer products. It will focus on game design as well as the ability to demonstrate safety features where possible. The code will be published in September, but some stuff has already leaked out.

Operators will need to adhere to a series of details within the new code, which includes a minimum spin of 2.5 seconds on all slot games. Any game features that might be considered to encourage intensive play, such as turbo buttons or slam stops, will have to be removed from games. Split screen slots will also be removed given their link to ‘loss of control’.

A new Betting and Gaming Council Testing Lab will be created, allowing other game features to be looked into. One such example could be in-game messaging. Formal consultations will be launched to make sure that any new measures will be able to be incorporated with the current governance frameworks put in place by the Gambling Commission.

McArthur, speaking on behalf of the UKGC, pointed out that the organisation has been working alongside operators and has sought the views of people with ‘lived experience of gambling harm‘, in order to make what he declared to be ‘significant progress’. He was also quick to say that the Gambling Commission always believe that more can be done.