Gambling Commission: 2021 busiest year yet for enforcement
Andrew Rhodes has raised concerns over the number of repeat offences identified by the British Gambling Commission.
UK.- Highlighting an increase in enforcement actions in 2021, the British Gambling Commission’s interim chief executive Andrew Rhodes has warned that the threat of the black market will not deter the regulator from acting against licensed operators.
Speaking at GambleAware’s annual conference, Rhodes recognised that the regulator needed to do more to tackle illegal gambling but said that the threat of the unlicensed market would not deter it from demanding a high level of compliance and standards from licensed operators.
His comments come after the Gambling Commission’s annual compliance report criticised operators for unacceptable AML failings in the past year.
He told the conference: “We are not going to be deflected away from that mission, in some sort of race to the bottom because someone else is worse. That’s the whole point of having a regulated market. I absolutely believe if you introduce the wrong friction, you can drive people into the black market. But we are nowhere near that scale of problem.”
Rhodes, who was appointed as the Gambling Commission’s interim chief executive for an 18-month term in June, said the Commission had recovered £100m in penalties since 2017 and had cancelled 10 operator licences, with 2021 being the busiest yet for enforcement actions.
He said: “This year so far is already on course to be our busiest year ever in terms of enforcement activity, and that’s something that should concern us.”
Repeat offences from gaming operators
He expressed concerns that the regulator had seen an increase in repeated offences, and more fines, rather than regulatory settlements.
He said: “We are seeing the same companies committing the same offences for the second and third time, and my concern is that those operators are starting to see fines as a compliance tax, and that’s something that I’m not prepared to tolerate.
“It must also be incredibly frustrating for those in the industry who are working hard to comply and to raise standards.”
Rhodes also mentioned the collapse of Football Index in March and criticised the company for not being transparent with customers. The Gambling Commission has been criticised for its handling of the case.
He said “People have had horrendous experiences in losing money as the company collapsed. But what we found here is we’ve got a company encouraging consumers to believe they were investing and not gambling when there were no assets to support an investment.”
Earlier, the GambleAware conference had heard from Britain’s gambling minister, Chris Philp, who said the UK government’s upcoming white paper following its review of gambling legislation would be likely to propose a single customer view for the industry and a soft affordability cap.
