Gambling Commission reports 50% rise in suspicious betting activity

The Gambling Commission has revealed a 50% rise in the number of potentially suspicious sports betting activities during the last year.

Publishing its annual report for 2017-18, the commission confirmed that it had received over 2,200 separate intelligence reports relating to 20 sports across 67 countries outside of the UK.

Issues reported ranged from suspicious betting activity, sports rules breaches, misuse of inside information, Gambling Act offences or other criminality such as fraud or bribery.

It was a busy year for the Gambling Commission, which processed over 240 UK licence applications from prospective operators, with a further 2,000 individuals applying separately for a UK licence during 2017-18.

UKGC compliance team members completed 10 corporate evaluations with gambling companies with a further 6 currently taking place as part of a rolling programme of evaluations. It is also currently conducting an Assurance Statement pilot with 39 of the largest gambling operators by gross gambling yield.

This project requires board level assurance on corporate action taken to minimise gambling related harm laying out learning tips and best practice points for other industry firms.

In the last year, the compliance team has examined the practices 676 smaller operators in over 1,030 separate assessments, including the allocation of subsequent follow up work to 131 operators to ensure compliance with the Licence conditions and code of practice (LCCP).

The commission also confirmed that it has conducted over 75 regulatory and criminal investigations into gambling operators within the last 12 months.

It total income from fees and other sources grew by just under 1.5% during the year, rising to a 2017-18 total of £19.93m from a 2016-17 high of £19.65m. Fees received from operator application fees rose by over 90% from £0.94m in 2016-17 to £1.79m during 2017-18.

The commissions total expenditure on operations rose by 11% during 2017-18, to a figure of £23.19m from its previous 2016-17 total of £20.88m.

Of its 41 intended corporate business objectives for the year, the commission delivered 38 of them, with the remaining 3 expected to be realised in 2018/19.

In a statement accompanying the report UKGC CEO Neil McArthur said: “This has been a year of change across the gambling sector – a year that has seen increased public scrutiny of the industry and of the Gambling Commission as the regulator of commercial gambling and the National Lottery.

“It has also been a year of change for the Commission as we developed, published and prepared to implement our Corporate Strategy (2018 to 2021) and reorganised ourselves to ensure the consumer is at the heart of our work.

“Significant progress has been made, but much more remains to be done as we work to make gambling fairer and safer in Great Britain.”