SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has launched a new ‘test hub’ to facilitate the responsibilities and duties of working with non-licensed entities.
The hub is focused on providing information and guidance on the responsibilities of operators who choose to deal with ‘non-licensed entities’, including white-label partners.
Located under the ‘Compliance’ tab, the hub defines the expectations and duties operators must fulfil when entering into business relationships with third parties and which best practices to follow in order to ensure that Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), duties are maintained.
The initiative follows a series of cases where the Commission initiated enforcement action against operators, for failure in conducting necessary due diligence checks on their contracted third parties spurred the establishment of this crucial guidance hub.
UKGC licensees have urged to review the LCCP guidelines to establish regulatory rules that underline the obligations gambling businesses must respect when working with third parties.
The Commission underscores that licensees bear the responsibility for their third parties, in which they must ensure that these entities conduct their operations in alignment with the same licence conditions and codes of practice.
As such, operators must undertake adequate due diligence checks on all third parties to ascertain their competence and reliability – a factor the Commission highlighted.
Speaking at KPMG Gibraltar eSummit last week, UKGC Deputy Sarah Gardner outlined that the Commission would be undertaking a policy project to bolster the responsibilities of White Label management – as a point of immediate concern for regulatory stakeholders.
The Commission concluded that “licensees are expected to know their customers thoroughly and demonstrate proactive interactions, with timely interventions where appropriate”.
