Gambling Commission & CMA Push Operators Further On Compliance

Gambling Licensee’s in the UK were given a further reminder today to improve their regulatory and compliance procedures via a letter sent jointly from the Gambling Commission and the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).

The letter follows the conclusion of a joint programme of work from the two bodies concerning suspected breaches of consumer protection law within the online gambling sector. This follows the current trend of tighter regulation for all online gambling companies in the UK who have also been hit with increased taxation across the sector.

This particular joint programme focused in particular on the potential for consumers to be misled with regard to online bonuses and withdrawal procedures. Any improvements in transparency and fairness in these areas are to be welcomed and should lead significantly improved practices from operators and hopefully fewer complaints from online gamblers going forward.

The letter makes it clear to all online bookmakers , casino’s ,and bingo operators that not only must they fully comply with all existing regulations fully themselves but they must also ensure compliance from their affiliates, and third-party suppliers of systems, software and call centres and continually review all these to ensure full compliance in future .

The letter specifically mentions six companies who have given undertakings to the CMA not to continue or repeat certain practices that the CMA found to be unfair. Those companies were  Ladbrokes, William Hill, PT Entertainment, BGO, Jumpman Gaming and Progress Play and other operators are expected to follow suit.

From May 7th online operators will also need to adhere to the new rules for verifying customers age and identity details faster as follows :

• verify, as a minimum, the name, address and date of birth of a customer before allowing them to gamble
• ask for any additional verification information promptly
• inform customers, before they can deposit funds, of the types of identity documents or other information that might be required, the circumstances in which the information might be required, and how it should be supplied to the licensee
• take reasonable steps to ensure that information on their customers’ identities remains accurate.

The new regulations should help customers in the long term however it may be a longer process initially to register a new account.