Gambling minister describes need for 'proportionate' affordability checks

Gambling minister Chris Philp has signalled that "proportionate" affordability checks will be one of the results of the government's review of gambling legislation.

However, he told an event in London on Wednesday that demanding financial information from customers spending £100 on gambling would be "unwelcome, disruptive and disproportionate".

That will come as some relief to British racing, which has warned affordability checks triggered by a monthly gambling loss of £100 could lead to the loss of revenues for the sport of at least £60 million per annum.

Nevertheless, it was the latest indication from the government that the gambling industry faced stricter regulation.

Philp was speaking at the GambleAware annual conference on the anniversary of the launch of the government's gambling review, which followed a manifesto commitment to bring gambling laws into the "digital age".

A white paper following the government's call for evidence, which received more than 16,000 submissions, is expected "in the coming months".

Chris Philp: the gambling minister spoke at the GambleAware annual conference on Wednesday

Philp told the audience the government regarded gambling-related harm to be "a public health issue", adding: "I've heard too many stories about people losing obviously unaffordable sums of money, not prevented by operators who had data to stop it from happening."

He said a robust system to prevent unaffordable online gambling would have "a transformative impact".

However, Philp added: "To be workable and prevent harm, affordability checks need to be proportionate.

"As the [Gambling] Commission has said, demanding payslips or bank statements from every customer spending £100 or so is likely to be unwelcome, disruptive and disproportionate to the risks, but there is a level that is appropriate."

'Now is the time for you to pick up the gauntlet'

Philp is minister for technology as well as gambling and said he wanted better data-sharing across the industry to protect people from gambling-related harm.

Part of that would be the introduction of a single customer view (SCV) solution, under which if a customer's behavioural data hit certain triggers, it would be shared with other operators who would also be expected to intervene.

Concerns have been raised about the potential misuse of such data by operators.

Philp said of the SCV: "We know data-sharing is well established in financial services. I know there are representatives from industry in the audience today, so I want to be clear in my message: now is the time for you to pick up the gauntlet and work closely with both regulators to develop a system that works."

The future of the Gambling Commission has been questioned as part of the gambling review, but Philp appeared to give the industry regulator something of a vote of confidence in his speech.

He said that as part of the review the government was exploring the scope for more investment in data capability within the Gambling Commission.

Michael Dugher: 'We strongly support the government’s gambling review'

"They need powers to regulate the enormous and innovative gambling industry," he added, "including the ability to requisition and analyse bulk account-level data from operators to identify whether they’re doing what they’re supposed to under their licence conditions."

Philp said the commission had "a huge role to play in our collaborative efforts to prevent gambling-related harm".

"It is vital that they have the powers and resources needed to regulate the enormous and innovative gambling industry effectively," he said. "It will be one of my priorities to ensure that they have all the tools that they need to uphold the licensing objectives."

Meanwhile, industry body the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has called on the government to put child protection "front and centre" in its forthcoming white paper.

The BGC said 15 child protection measures, in areas including advertising, had been introduced since 2019 with further measures planned in the months ahead.

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said: "We strongly support the government’s gambling review, which highlighted the protection of children and vulnerable people in a fair and open gambling economy as one of the government's main priorities. We therefore hope that child protection will be front and centre of the forthcoming white paper.

"It is clear that the steps BGC members have taken over the previous two years are now providing results. Nevertheless, we are not complacent, and protecting young people remains our top priority as we continue raising standards across the regulated industry."

Read more . . .

Letters: our readers on the prospect of affordability checks

Government to ensure affordability checks will 'harmonise' with gambling review

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