UK operators to face new fee law

UK Gambling Commission will implement the measure on April.

UK.- After announcing the presentation of a new fee regulation last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) released a complete statement justifying the measure. The new fee law will boost the operations of 1,900 companies, whilst some operators will face higher fees starting in April 2017.

According to the Commission, medium-sized betting operators would only perceive a 0.09 percent to 0.27 percent of increment in their fees; for a larger remote betting operator the raise would be of 0.06 percent and 0.13 percent.

“The Commission’s overall costs in respect of remote betting have reduced, enabling an overall reduction in the fees payable by remote betting operators as a whole. It is therefore a question of how those costs should be recovered. A large proportion of the Commission’s cost base can be described as thematic, in contrast to other costs such as direct compliance or enforcement costs, and the largely fixed costs of regulating each operator,” explains the UKGC statement.

“Thematic costs in respect of remote betting operators include, for example, betting integrity, the development of Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and Remote Technical Standards including the testing strategy. As there are very few economies of scale available to the Commission in these costs, it is appropriate that they should be recovered in proportion to the gambling volume generated by each operator, with GGY considered to be the best measure in that regard. While we have sought to realign cost recovery among other sectors of the gambling industry as necessary (for example, in the terrestrial betting sector), the need for that realignment is most pronounced in the remote betting sector.”

And they conclude: “Since 2007 when fees were first set, the Commission’s cost profile has changed. The fixed, minimum costs of regulating smaller remote operators have fallen (which is why the proposals would see the smallest fee for a remote general betting (standard) or betting intermediary license reduce from £13,529 to £3,408). However, its thematic costs base has continued to grow. The fees for large remote betting operators are currently set at too low a level to recover a fair proportion of thematic costs given the relative volumes of gambling they generate. The proposals therefore seek to ensure that thematic costs are spread more proportionately to GGY.”