Betting and Gaming Council publishes new Code Handbook

The new BGC Code Handbook collates member gambling operators’ commitments.

UK.- The UK gambling sector lobby group the Betting and Gaming Council has published its first Code Handbook, a compendium of 20 Codes and 100 measures that operators must commit to as part of their membership of the body.

The Code Handbook was published to mark the BGC’s fifth anniversary. It’s intended to make it easier to find all member commitments in one place, including the BGC’s main Code of Conduct. Three of the 20 Codes have become part of the British Gambling Commission’s License Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) for all gambling licensees. However, the BGC notes that the others go beyond licence requirements.

The BGC said it is working closely with the government and the regulator on more than 50 additional workstreams to further raise standards following the publication of the government’s gambling White Paper last year. Those include frictionless enhanced spending checks online, an industry ombudsman to for customer redress and an expansion of the scope of the Bank Transfer Block project to offer customers more control of their spending.

The majority of the measures are around safer gambling, including core pledges on advertising and messaging, the promotion of safer gambling tools and signposting help and support to those who need it, the BGC said. The measures must be followed by both online and land-based gambling operators that belong to the organisation.

The Code Handbook includes measures like the whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting commercials during live sport before the 9pm watershed and the commitment to ensure 20 per cent of TV, radio and digital advertising is devoted to safer gambling messaging. A portion of the Codes were created by the ABB and Senet Group, and subsequently adopted by the BGC when it was established, while others have been created in collaboration with charities.

Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst said: “I am delighted to announce this new Code Handbook, which comprises over five years of determined work to raise standards, across the board.

“It is also entirely fitting that we publish this landmark new Code Handbook on our fifth anniversary. The BGC was founded as the industry’s standards body, and this Handbook draws together our sector’s combined efforts, under the leadership of the BGC, to raise standards on safer gambling in the UK.

“With 20 Codes covering 100 measures, which all BGC members follow as a condition of membership, this comprehensive document should rightly be seen as the concrete demonstration of our member’s determination to deliver world-class standards.

“This Code Handbook is also not the final word on this work, because the commitment to raising standards does not stop for the BGC, or our members. That’s why we are working with the regulator and government on over 50 additional workstreams which will raise standards even further as part of the White Paper reforms.

“Taken alone, neither the recently published White Paper on gambling reform, or existing license conditions set by the Gambling Commission, can deliver the world class standards our industry strives for. It takes independent determination on behalf of our members, and collective ambition by the BGC to deliver that. This Handbook is the result of that determination and ambition.

“We are determined to deliver the foundations for a sustainable sector, built on stability, growth and diversity, ensuring our members set the global standard for our world-class industry.”

The BGC has also taken a key step towards its aim of promoting a harmonised international approach to regulated gambling markets with the publication of an International Best Practice Guide. The publication is intended to provide a single body of evidence offering an overview of the shared policy objectives of all global gambling regulators.

Commissioned by the BGC, the guide was compiled by the professional services firm Alvarez and Marsal (A&M). The BGC said the guide allows policymakers and gaming operators to “critically compare” variations in regulatory approaches with a view to inform future decision making. Its aim is to promote a high channelisation towards regulated markets. 

Meanwhile, the BGC has welcomed the UK government’s decision to avoid any increase to gambling tax in the autumn budget. High-profile reports from two think tanks had left the gambling fearing that it would be used to make up for a hole in finances, but chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed that there will be no changes in gambling tax this time around.