Gambling Commission calls for social self-regulation
Chairman says Commission has "no desire to widen [its] regulatory scope unless necessary."
Chairman of the UK Gambling Commission Philip Graf has called on the social casino sector to introduce self-regulation while reiterating the body’s opinion that no formal legislation is required.
Speaking at conference held at London’s City Hall last week, Graf explained that the Commission has “no desire to widen [its] regulatory scope unless necessary, but we must continue to assess the nature and size of these risks.”
The Commission highlighted two main risks from social casino, explaining that it may act as a ‘gateway drug’ which develops problem gambling characteristics in underage players or vulnerable people; and that consumers could be put at risk of being exploited by rigged games, or unscrupulous or incompetent operators.
“A lot depends on whether those who provide gambling-like social games consider the potential risks to players and implement the necessary responsible gambling consumer protection measures,” Graf said. “I would suggest it is in their interests to self-regulate if they want their business model to be sustainable.”
In June last year the Gambling Commission denied rumours that it was looking into introducing some form of regulation for social casino operators. At the time the Commission’s corporate affairs officer James Cook explained: “The key question for the Commission is whether or not a gambling-style product on a social gaming website is gambling as defined under the Gambling Act 2005 “ more often than not it isn’t.”
“The gambling industry is innovative and technological advances are testing the boundaries of the Act so we monitor what is going on across a wide range of activities, whether on-line or terrestrial, such as lotteries, gaming machine sales and including social gaming sites, to ensure that unlicensed gambling “ as defined by the Act “ is not taking place,” Cook said.