UK Gambling Commission: more operators should sign up to GamProtect

The regulator’s executive director spoke at the launch event for the new tool.

UK.- British Gambling Commission executive director Tim Miller has encouraged more operators to join the new safer gambling tool GamProtect. Speaking at the launch of the initiative, he welcomed the industry’s collaboration on the project but said more operators should sign up, suggesting that the scheme could be made obligatory if they don’t.

“GamProtect is your opportunity to be ahead of the curve and shape something that could, in the future, become a requirement,” Miller said.

GamProtect was commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC). The industry lobby group worked with the regulator as well as the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It aims to identify customers at risk.

Tim Miller

Miller said that GamProtect had already identified 5,527 customers with 88 per cent matched by at least one participating operator. Operators already using the tool include Entain, Flutter, Betway and 888’s William Hill.

GamProtect uses a system to spread data-sharing responsibilities across its three main shareholders: closing operators, the system itself and receiving – those that receive the data in order to match it with their customer database and close a customer’s account as a result.

Miller said: “It is now over four years since we all started talking about what we then referred to as a ‘Single Customer View’. The Commission asked industry to collectively explore what was possible, that could protect consumers from harm whilst also protecting their data.

“Ever since the idea of what would become GamProtect was first discussed, there have been plenty of questions asked about how secure people’s data would be. These concerns have been felt across the board as well, from operators to safer gambling campaigners and of course consumers concerned about their own privacy.”

Miller added: “Where an operator has closed a customer’s account after identifying a customer that has self-declared a very serious marker of health related gambling harm, the system allows for that operator to share that decision by a flag through the system with other participating operators. Thousands of people have already seen interventions as a result of GamProtect, that would otherwise have been at risk of experiencing serious harm.

“And that is just during these early stages of development. And I am here to say that the progress made by BGC and the team at GamProtect now means we are in a position to encourage more operators to come forward and sign up to the scheme.”