UK Gambling Licensing and Advertising Act 2013

Saturday, March 26, 2016

UK Gambling Licensing and Advertising Act 2013

December 10, 2013

After starting discussions eighteen months ago in mid 2011, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sports has published a draft of proposed new online gambling legislation, the Gambling Licensing and Advertising Act 2013, the purpose of which is to tighten up regulatory control.

Under the current arrangements set out in the Gambling Act 2005, only operators with key equipment in Britain are required to be licenced by the Gambling Commission, whilst operators in EEA member states, Gibraltar and white listed jurisdictions may advertise their services in Britain in reliance on the licence held in their home jurisdiction. The Government believes that the current system is flawed and can no longer adequately ensure the continued protections for British consumers the Act envisaged in a changing European and International landscape.

The Government therefore believes that it is essential, now more than ever, for the protections envisaged in the Gambling Act 2005 to be afforded to all British consumers, regardless with whom they choose to gamble.

The essential changes are explained thus:

This draft Bill proposes fundamental change to the basis on which the system of remote gambling is regulated in Britain from the current ‘place of supply’ basis to a ‘place of consumption’ basis. This will mean the British consumer becoming the pivot around which the system is based, rather than the location of the gambling operator.

The main change will be a requirement for all operators selling into the British market being required to hold a Gambling Commission licence and therefore subject to the provisions of the Act, its regulations and the Gambling Commission’s social responsibility and technical standard requirements.

However, a whole host of operations licensed in jurisdictions the UK considers trustworthy, including Alderney, Gibraltar, Malta and even Antigua and Barbuda, will not, it appears, face any particularly onerous changes, and will even be granted "provisional" licences at the outset:

Operators in well-regulated jurisdictions whose regulators can provide, for example, the necessary compliance information, will not face significant increases in licensing costs – those whose regulators cannot provide such information will need to pay the compliance costs associated with being subject to the same requirements as other Gambling Commission licensees.

The Government is clear that the proposals are not designed to duplicate the work of other regulators or to unnecessarily increase burdens imposed on operators. Rather, the system will be light-touch, avoiding duplication by relying on the work of other regulators, subject to sufficient on-going assurance of quality and rigour.

To ensure the minimum of disruption for operators already active in the British market, we intend to put in place a period of transition which will see operators already licensed in EEA countries and the existing white listed jurisdictions awarded an automatic provisional licence to prevent them having to cease trading.

At the end of the day, notwithstanding the almost total lack of effort that operators in what are in reality the worst regulatory areas, such as Malta, will have to put in, a UK licence in some form is going to be required. Whether or not this will benefit the player is questionable. I have some experience of seeing the Commission in spectacular non-action - see my UK Gambling Commission: refusal to implement its own inadequate player dispute procedure article.

I'm not clear at this moment whether casinos are going to have to locate any actual equipment in the UK, or whether or not a UKGC licence will put them within the jurisdiction of the UK legal system. If so, this probably would be the only benefit to the consumer, the ability to bring relatively inexpensive legal action against any casino dealing to UK consumers.

In any event: watch this space.

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