SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has launched a further consultation seeking guidance on ‘how online gambling companies interact with their customers’.
The Commission aims to gather wide-ranging insights and opinions from businesses, employees and their customers on ‘what protections should be offered by online gambling operators to prevent harms to their customers’.
UK online gambling laws require licensed operators to conduct thorough verification checks on customer IDs as a compliance duty and to further prevent money laundering threats.
Furthermore, customer service teams are required to carry out interventions on any player showing signs of gambling harm.
However, the Commission seeks guidance on non-technical measures and practices that online operators should adopt to provide further safer gambling environments for their customers.
The Commission launched its consultation following ‘casework’, which indicated that operators ‘are sometimes too slow to protect customers’.
Outlined as a priority, the Commission seeks to minimise the opportunities for at-risk players to ‘chase gambling losses, spending more money than they can afford’.
“Action to protect customers could mean that more customers have to provide information to gambling operators about their income and what they can afford, or give permission for credit agencies to provide information,” read the UKGC statement.
“Many customers are reluctant to provide information to gambling businesses and they may feel that they would prefer such information to be private.”
Participants will be required to fill out a short survey of questions, with the consultation open until 9 February 2021.
