Bookmakers must do more to stop underage gambling, says Commission

Gambling Commission have said there are “major weaknesses” in the way that gambling operators prevent children entering their premises.

The leading gambling regulator has called for betting shops to adjust their layouts to stop underage gambling, according to the legal journal, Out Law.

Bookmakers and casinos must change their layouts in order to stop underage gambling, according to new licensing conditions proposed by the industry’s regulator.

The Gambling Commission have said this week that, there are “major weaknesses” in the way that gambling operators are addressing their statutory duty to prevent children entering their premises. Because of this, they are not complying with their existing social responsibility rules that are aimed to stop underage gambling.

The Commission said that the licence codes and conditions of practice (LCCP) should be modified to explicitly require operators to give consideration to how the layout of their premises can combat underage gambling.

In a new consultation on proposed new social responsibility controls, the Commission writes: “The Commission considers that the layout of gambling premises should be designed in such a way that staff members are able to supervise access to the premises and to gambling products on the premises. The Commission therefore proposes to make clear in the relevant social responsibility code provision that licensees must ensure that the layout of premises facilitates the effectiveness of the licensees’ policies and procedures designed to prevent underage gambling.”

The Commission has also proposed that, an amended LCCP should require gambling operators who hold particular operating licences – including betting shops – to engage with “test purchasing” exercises, in order to monitor how effective their policies and procedures are at preventing underage gambling, and then will be required to submit the results of that testing to the Commission for assessment.

Despite calls from some stakeholders, the Commission rejected the plan to implement a voluntary code of practice that the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) introduced earlier this year into formal licensing conditions for gambling operators. Rather, the Commission proposed licensing conditions that are quite similar to the voluntary code and in some cases “strengthen protections further than would be the case if left solely to voluntary codes.”

Under the ABB code, gambling operators must use new technology on their gaming machines to display reminders to customers when they have spent £250 and then every £250 they spend afterwards. Mandatory time-based reminders will also pop up on customers’ screens every half an hour.

Under the proposal, gambling operators that are applying for a premises licence from local authorities will also need to assess what “local risks to the licensing objective” arise as a result of providing gambling facilities at their premises and outline how they would plan to stop such risks.

The Commission has also requested the operators inform them about how punters are using gaming machines. For instance, they will want to know how much time they have spent on those machines and the amount of money they have spent whilst playing.

Furthermore, remote gambling operators that are licensed in Britain are going to be required to offer their punters the ability to exclude themselves from playing.