UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Bahar Alaeddini, David Whyte and Jessica Wilson, Harris Hagan
As explained in 1.1 Current Outlook and Recent Changes , the White Paper proposed the creation of a non-statutory gambling ombudsman to handle social responsibility complaints from consumers. However, at the time of writing, the position of the new govern- ment on the gambling ombudsman is unclear.
sumers and do not target vulnerable or self-excluded customers. There have been repeated examples of customers being allowed to gamble significant sums of money in short timeframes, considerably beyond their per- sonal affordability, and without any intervention from the operator. Key SG requirements include: • preventing underage gambling and utilising age verification measures; • detailed requirements regarding customer interac- tion, including taking into account the Gambling Commission’s remote customer interaction guid- ance under SRCP 3.4.3 and the Gambling Com- mission’s Guidance for premises-based operators under SRCP 3.4.1; • the provision of gambling management tools (see 7.2 Gambling Management Tools ); • that licensees must, as soon as practicable, take all reasonable steps to prevent any marketing material being sent to a self-excluded customer; • that, at the end of any self-exclusion period chosen by the customer, self-exclusion remains in place for a further six months (unless the customer takes positive action to gamble again); • that, notwithstanding the expiry of the period of self-exclusion chosen by a customer, no marketing material should be sent to them unless and until they have asked for – or agreed to accept – such material; and • that licensees must undertake a financial vulner- ability check for customers who meet certain thresholds and that such check must include a customer-specified public record information check for significant indicators of potential financial vulnerability. Operators are encouraged by the Gambling Commis- sion to participate in GamProtect’s single customer view scheme, which is a mechanism through which participating operators share information of custom- ers at risk of gambling-related harms. The scheme was facilitated by the Betting and Gaming Council and is supported by the Gambling Commission and the UK government.
7.2 Gambling Management Tools Gambling management tools include:
• making information readily available to customers on how to gamble responsibly and how to access information about – and help in respect of – prob- lem gambling; • self-exclusion (operator and national), with a mini-
mum of six months (up to 12 months); • financial limits (deposit, spend or loss); • timers; • reality checks; and
• timeouts (24 hours, one week, one month or such period as reasonably requested by the customer, up to six weeks). The Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion Scheme (MOSES) assists land-based operators with identifying at-risk gamblers. GAMSTOP is the online equivalent, initiated by the Gambling Commission and led by the Remote Gambling Association. Since 31 March 2020, all online gambling operators have been required – under the LCCP – to join GAMSTOP. Since 1 April 2024, this requirement extends to all gambling operators that make and accept bets by telephone and email. 8. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) 8.1 AML Legislation The current primary legislation is the Money Launder- ing, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Infor- mation on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (implementing the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive). This was amended in January 2024 by various regulations to update the meaning of a “high-risk third country” and address the treatment of politically exposed persons (PEPs) who are entrusted with prominent public func- tions in the UK (“domestic PEPs”).
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