MPs slam 'torpid, toothless' Gambling Commission for failing to protect punters

MPs have slammed the Gambling Commission as "toothless" in a scathing report which called on the industry regulator to "name and shame" gambling operators who failed to treat customers well.

Both the commission and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) which oversees it have an "unacceptably weak understanding" of the impact of gambling harms and lack measurable targets for reducing them, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

"There is a sense of complacency from the department in tackling this issue," they added.

The PAC's report, published on Sunday, accuses both the DCMS and the regulator of having "failed to adequately protect consumers".

It adds: "The pace of change to ensure effective regulation has been slow and the penalties on the companies which do not effectively tackle problem gambling are weak."

Among other criticisms in the report, the PAC said the Gambling Commission's annual budget of £19 million was small compared to other regulators.

Gambling Commission: the annual budget was small, according to the PAC

However, it added, the DCMS was "unwilling to accept the premise that increasing the commission’s budget to prevent harm would be preferable to spending on treating problem gamblers".

Among the committee's conclusions were a recommendation the Gambling Commission use reputational tools such as league tables to make operators treat customers better by naming and shaming poor performers.

It also said that within the next three months the commission should investigate what it described as online "fixed odds betting" and report back how it intends to reduce harm, as well as telling the DCMS to set out a timetable for the government's review of the Gambling Act.

The committee's chair Meg Hillier MP said: "What has emerged in evidence is a picture of a torpid, toothless regulator that doesn’t seem terribly interested in either the harms it exists to reduce or the means it might use to achieve that. The commission needs a radical overhaul: it must be quicker at responding to problems, update company licence conditions to protect vulnerable consumers and beef up those consumers' rights to redress when it fails.

"The issue of gambling harm is not high up enough on the government’s agenda. The review of the Gambling Act is long overdue and an opportunity to see a step change in how problem gambling is treated. The department must not keep dragging its feet, we need to see urgent moves on the badly needed overhaul of the system.

"Regulatory failure this comprehensive needs a quick pincer movement to expose the miscreants and strengthen those they harm."

The PAC report echoed themes contained in a National Audit Office report published in February which said the regulator and government needed to do more to ensure that regulation protected gamblers effectively and followed an appearance before the committee by Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur.

A National Audit Office report, published in February, said the government needed to do more to protect gamblersCredit: Patrick McCann

Responding to the PAC report, a commission spokesperson said: "We are committed to making even further and faster progress to address gambling harms and were already addressing a number of the issues highlighted by the National Audit Office earlier this year."

They added: "We accepted before the committee that there is always more to do and we are carefully considering the findings of their report to see what other additional steps we can take."

A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council said the industry was working hard to raise standards but pointed out both the government and the commission had said there was no evidence that problem gambling had increased.

They added: “We are committed to making more voluntary changes and driving up safer gambling standards. We will work with the Gambling Commission and the government to achieve this, particularly on the forthcoming review of the Gambling Act."

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