UK Gambling Commission sets the agenda

The major gaming authority in the UK expressed its concern regarding gambling problems.

UK.- The UK Gambling Commission chief executive, Sarah Harrison, announced that the entity is determined to highlight new policies to spread the responsible gaming among all the operating companies in the region.

The director warned industry stakeholders that the levels of public scrutiny the UK gambling sector had experienced during the last year would not stop the development of further policies to discuss and prevent gambling problems.

“The high-profile public debate over fixed odds betting terminals – a hard form of gambling – is not going to fade away. Recently we have seen a new All Party Parliamentary Group established that is seeking evidence on the impact of these machines,” expressed Harrison at the World Regulatory Briefing yesterday.

The list of gambling issues, according to the Commission, includes advertising, fixed odds betting terminals, lone workers in betting shops, crime linked to gambling and the normalisation of gambling in British society. The Gambling Commission considers that the companies should commit to increased funding to secure responsible gaming measures.

Harrison took advertisement as an example of inequitable investment. Gaming operators in the UK pays, voluntary, £6.5 million–US$8,645,584– for research, education and treatment of problem gambling. “By contrast £120 million –US$159,591,438– was spent on TV advertising in the same year. That cannot be right. £6.5m is nowhere near enough,” Harrison affirmed.