Autumn 2023 consultation on proposed changes to Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS)

Overview

The Gambling Commission regulates most forms of commercial gambling in Great Britain. We are consulting on a series of proposed changes to our requirements on gambling businesses, through the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS). All stakeholders, including consumers, gambling licensees and members of the public are invited to share their views on these proposals.

Why your views matter

In April 2023, the government published its White Paper High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age, which set out a plan for reform of gambling regulation following a review of the Gambling Act 2005.

This consultation package includes the second set of proposed changes to the regulatory framework required to implement the Gambling Commission’s commitments as part of that review.

Our consultation on the first set of proposed changes was published in July this year and closed in October. We are currently analysing the consultation responses we have received and will set out one or more responses to this consultation in 2024.

We will shortly be launching a further consultation covering two topics relating to ‘business as usual’ matters. This consultation will include proposals relating to clarity and transparency to the way financial penalties are calculated, and financial key event reporting by licensees to make sure we have the right information for risk-based regulation.

Please give us your views

The following five areas form our second set of proposed changes to the regulatory framework following on from the Gambling Act Review:

Socially responsible incentives

We want to ensure that incentives such as free bets and bonuses are constructed in a socially responsible manner and do not encourage excessive or harmful gambling. As a result, we are consulting on proposals to ban or limit on the use of wagering requirements in promotional offers and a proposal to ban on the mixing of product types (e.g. betting, bingo, casino and lotteries) within incentives. We are also consulting on changes to the section of our LCCP that covers rewards and bonuses to make it explicit that incentives should be constructed in a manner that does not lead to excessive or harmful gambling. 

Customer-led tools

We have been exploring the role of customer-led tools as part of our wider work on online protections, including considering how easy it is to set and keep meaningful account limits. We are consulting on proposed changes to the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS) to make sure that consumers who want to make use of pre-commitment tools such as deposit limits can do so easily, in ways that work for them and with the minimum of friction.

To inform future thinking, we are also seeking views on consumer ability to choose limits across accounts held by multiple operators, and on any concerns or specific examples where consumer decision-making has been influenced or encouraged through the use of friction or other barriers.

Improved transparency on customer funds in the event of insolvency

We want to ensure it is clear to consumers throughout their relationship with a gambling licensee with a ‘not protected’ rating that their funds are not protected. We want to improve transparency for customers of these gambling businesses and we therefore propose a new requirement be added to the existing LCCP provision. This is that gambling businesses should remind customers that their funds are not protected.

Changes to the frequency of regulatory returns submissions

Regulatory returns submissions from gambling licensees are a vital source of information for us, government and the public, providing an understanding of the size and shape of the gambling market in Great Britain. Some gambling licensees send us annual submissions, whilst others are submitted quarterly. We are consulting on a change to the LCCP so that all regulatory returns would have to be submitted to us quarterly. This would provide a timelier and more accurate picture of the gambling sector.

Removing obsolete Commission requirements due to the government’s upcoming statutory levy (LCCP RET list)

The government has recently published its consultation on a statutory levy on gambling licensees and once the statutory levy is brought into force, it will replace the current system for funding research, prevention and treatment (RET) where the amounts raised are voluntary. We currently require gambling licensees to make an annual financial contribution to one or more organisation providing RET on a list that we maintain. That requirement in the LCCP will become obsolete and we are consulting on removing it once a levy is introduced or at the beginning of the financial year in which a levy is introduced.