Gambling Commission’s McArthur on Compliance and Regulation

By Simon Wright, Last updated Mar 1, 2021

Earlier today the UK Gambling Commission’s Chief Executive, Neil McArthur provided the keynote speech at the ARQ Gaming Compliance Forum being held in Malta. With the main topic being compliance and regulation and the need for overseas operators to raise their standards when it comes to targeting players in the UK.

McArthur explained that since 2014, the Gambling Commission’s key remit was to ensure that British consumers were protected and that there was a level playing field in place, with regards to compliance with regulations and operators active in the UK.

However, he went on to explain that the UKGC have found that the levels of compliance with the regulations has not been good enough and demonstrated as to why the law needed to be changed back in 2014.

For those unaware, back on 1st December 2014 the Gambling Act 2014 came into force, requiring all operators wanting to operate in the UK to apply for a licence from the Gambling Commission and also be subjected to a point of consumption tax.

McArthur also highlighted figures from 2018, whereby the UKGC “undertook a massive piece of thematic work, involving 123 online casino operators.” The findings from these investigations resulted in a total of 45 operators being required to submit an action plan to raise standards.

A further 14 operators of online casinos were subjected to enforcement investigations. The outcome of which, resulted in penalty packages totalling £18m being meted out to 7 operators. Subsequently 5 operators surrendered their UKGC licences and 3 Personal Management Licences were surrendered.

Wrapping up McArthur was keen to stress there is still more to do, stating that compliance with the letter and the spirit of regulation is not optional for operators.

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