British Gambling Commission confirms quarterly returns requirement
The frequency of regulatory returns will increase from once a year.
UK.- The Gambling Commission is to go ahead with a proposal to increase operators’ requirement to submit regulatory returns from once a year to once every three months. General and regulatory returns Code Provision 15.3.1 will be amended to require quarterly submissions.
Regulatory returns are used to check that licensed gambling operators are in the right fee category and to compile industry statistics and other data. While some had argued for a 42-day window, the regulator has decided that the period for the submission of regulatory returns will be 28 days.
A consultation on the change was launched in November last year, resulting in 45 responses. The Gambling Commission said that 49 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the proposal, while around a third disagreed and 15.5 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.
Those in favour took the view that the move would provide clearer, timely insights on gambling harms while improving efficiencies for licensees with more than one type of licence by aligning the submission dates for remote and non-remote gaming. The proposal also involved a simplification of submissions, reducing the number of data fields.
However, those who disagreed with the proposal said it would increase the administrative burden and costs for operators without providing improved insights. Some suggested that less frequent reporting makes it easier to detect a change in rates.
The Gambling Commission is of the view that quarterly returns will benefit its ability to budget correctly and forecast accurately. It said: “Given the fast-moving nature of the industry we regulate, quarterly returns will support our aim to be a risk-based, evidence-led and outcomes-focused regulator. By aligning reporting periods across the industry, the quality of our data will improve as we will no longer need to apportion data from each operator to the financial year.”
