British Gambling Commission highlights importance of operator data

The regulator’s director of research and statistics says operator data is filling vital gaps in knowledge about players.

UK.- The Gambling Commission’s director of research and statistics, Ben Haden, has highlighted how the regulator has been using data in 2023. He noted that the regulator has started using operator data to fill gaps in its knowledge about players 

Writing in a blog post on the Gambling Commission website, he noted that this was part of the regulator’s Evidence Gaps and Priorities 2023 to 2026 publication and was mentioned in the UK government’s gambling white paper published in April.

Haden wrote: “We think data like this will really help us understand the impact of policy changes, in particular as a result of the Gambling Act Review. When we evaluate, we want to be able to get early indications of impact, where we may need to take different action as a result. It may also mean less ad-hoc requests from operators in relation to each change.”

The Gambling Commission now plans to update regulatory returns for operators, removing several outdated items from the licensing process but also increasing the frequency of reports. It also intends to pilot detailed operator reports, including daily aggregated consumer data. A consultation on the issue will close in February.

Hayden wrote: “When we start to triangulate this with our consumer surveys and other available datasets we will have much more informed perspective overall. These two projects are just the start of looking to extract more value from operator data, as well as other datasets but it’s an exciting part of our drive to use the best evidence we can in our work.

“And better evidence driven by better data, will lead to better regulation.”