SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has revealed that it has received an ‘incorrect data supply’ from William Hill in its efforts to monitor online gambling trends during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, the UKGC has published monthly breakdowns reporting on the key criteria of total wagers, gambling yield by product type, active player accounts and average customer session times.
Tracking industry trends, the data supplied to the UKGC is composed of large operators who represent approximately 80% of Britain’s online gambling market.
An update on the ‘statistics and research‘ section of the Commission’s website has warned stakeholders to “exercise caution when analysing COVID-19 data”, as the Commission revealed that it has received incorrect data supply from William Hill.
The Commission informed that “as a result of a query raised during the data quality assurance process, William Hill has now informed the Commission that the data they supplied between March 2020 and September 2021 contained incorrect data points.”
William Hill has been ordered to resubmit its data reporting on the 22-month period, as UKGC further confirmed that it was examining ‘regulatory consequences’ of the former FTSE250 betting group’s failure to provide accurate data to the regulator tracking the sector under pandemic circumstances.
Concluding its update, the UKGC outlined that it would aim to republish its online gambling analysis with the correct data in early February 2022.
Last month, addressing GambleAware’s Annual Conference, UKGC Interim CEO Andrew Rhodes stated that the regulator expected the highest standards on compliance and licensing duties as the sector waits for the government to finalise the White Paper on reforms and recommendations of the 2005 Gambling Act.
