The British gambling scene continues to get hauled into line by the UK Gambling Commission, who this week announced a raft of new laws scheduled to come into force on the 31st October.
The Commission outlined the new laws in a recently published statement, explaining that they were being brought in after a period of open consultation with the industry and that these new regulations are designed to better protect customers and ensure fairness in their treatment by operators.
The key changes outlined by the Commission are as follows. To start, the Commission now has the capacity to impose unlimited fines for breaches of the regulations concerning adverts which target or are considered to appeal specifically to children. Operators will be held responsible for the advertising conduct of third party affiliates, as well.
The conditions of holding a license are going to be specifically tied to advertising breaches in future as well, meaning that operators could lose their licenses entirely for such breaches. All of this, as well, is under the Commission’s discretion. There are also new provisions coming in to restrict spam marketing and prevent misleading advertising.
Other changes include facilitating the Commission’s ability to penalise breaches of consumer law: for example, providers offering unfair or misleading terms, suddenly changing customer contract terms, or establishing unreasonable requirements for wagering before funds can be withdrawn. All customer complaints must now by law be resolved within an eight-week period. Furthermore, tighter reporting requirements for customer complaints are being put into place.
This is all excellent news for anyone looking for a better environment for players in the UK gambling scene and better protection for vulnerable groups like children. Perhaps if the industry had led the way in effecting these standards themselves, the Commission would have had far less motivation to make changes. Whatever the circumstances behind their establishment, however, they are welcome and a likely benefit to both the UK gaming industry and its customers.
