The Gambling Commission has launched a new set of consultations aimed at making gambling in Britain safer and fairer.

Earlier this year the Commission opened its first set of consultations to implement proposals by Government in its Gambling Act Review White Paper High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age.

Today the Commission has launched the second set of consultations on proposals contained in the White Paper. The consultations, which will run for 12 weeks, will cover the following topics:

• socially responsible incentives – proposals relating to incentives such as free bets and bonuses, to make sure they do not encourage harmful or excessive gambling
• customer-led tools – proposals to empower consumers and make it easier for them to manage their gambling in ways that work for them, such as deposit limits
• transparency of protection of customer funds – proposals to increase transparency to consumers if their funds are held by licensees that offer no protection in the event of insolvency
• removing Commission requirements that would become obsolete due to the government’s upcoming statutory levy – proposals to remove the current LCCP requirement to make annual financial contributions to a set list of research, prevention and treatment organisations
• regulatory data – proposal to harmonise across all operators the frequency of reporting of regulatory returns from annual to quarterly.

Tim Miller, Gambling Commission Executive Director for research and policy, said:

‘The White Paper set out that a top government priority is ensuring that gambling happens safely. We share this commitment and today’s consultations propose how we can deliver on it’.

You can view the consultations and have your say here (see link)!

As set out in Tim Miller’s blog earlier this month, the Commission will shortly be launching a further consultation covering two topics relating to ‘business as usual’ matters. This consultation will include proposals relating to clarity and transparency to the way financial penalties are calculated, and financial key event reporting by licensees to ensure the Commission has the right information for risk-based regulation.