Licensing Expert

Post White Paper, UK gambling enters its ‘consultation phase’, as the government seeks relevant feedback on key policy proposals to govern the sector. Licensing Expert David Clifton details how consultation questions asked by the Gambling Commission reveal a new approach to the risk assessment & financial vulnerability of customers. ____________________ On 26 July, the UKGC launched its first set of …

The record + £19m fine imposed on William Hill reveals why UK gambling Plcs have found it hard to accommodate new rules on Social Responsibility and Customer Interaction… A reality previously foretold by David Clifton.      The regulatory settlements pursuant to which William Hill are obliged to pay a record total of £19.2 million for social responsibility and anti-money …

The First Tier Tribunal Decision in the case of ‘Daub Alderney Limited v The Gambling Commission’ was reported on the Commission’s website on 13 December 2022. This arose from an appeal against a decision relating to the quantum of a financial penalty for regulatory compliance breaches imposed by a Panel of Gambling Commissioners. The dismissal of the appeal by Tribunal …

A rollercoaster year has seen the Gambling Review contend with back-to-back government changes and a leadership overhaul at the Gambling Commission,  as the industry is promised that the White Paper will be published ‘in the coming weeks’. Before a much-needed break, David Clifton dissects the final industry briefings by new DCMS Gambling Minister Paul Scully and UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes …

January 2019 famously saw the introduction of the gambling advertising ban in Italy, with forecasts of the disaster that would befall the industry if similar prohibitions spread across Europe. The following year a new Royal Decree on Commercial Communications imposing strict limitations on gambling advertising in Spain was approved by the European Commission. Only the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed its …

As I write this, the global gambling industry community has this week once more descended on London for the return of the ICE 2022 conference. Many of them may have thought that, by now, the potential future UK gambling regulatory landscape would already have been made clear, bearing in mind initial indications that the Government White Paper on the Gambling …

As previously reported by SBC News, a two-week-long inquest into the death of Jack Ritchie, a 24-year old English teacher with a long-standing gambling disorder, ended on 4 March 2022 with the coroner concluding that ‘warnings, information and treatment’ for problem gamblers had been ‘woefully inadequate and failed to meet Jack’s needs’. Paul Greaney QC, who was instructed to represent …

Back in September last year, the Parliamentary All Party Betting & Gaming Group (APBGG) launched its investigation into the competence and effectiveness of the Gambling Commission. Bearing in mind that the APBGG investigation followed on from heavy criticisms of the regulator by each of the National Audit Office, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group and the House of …

It’s always interesting to look back at my industry forecasts of a year ago to see if I got anything right at all. So, why don’t you come with me back to my December 2020 article for SBC News entitled “Ten forecasts and a hope for 2021” so we can go through my ten forecasts of a year ago and …

I don’t know about you, but I very much welcome the very considerably more open style of engagement with the outside world adopted by the Gambling Commission’s CEO in the time since Andrew Rhodes was appointed to that position in June this year. His public comments will not find favour with everyone. It would be highly surprising if they did. …