On 8 April 2024,  the Gambling Commission released its new Corporate Strategy for 2024 to 2027. The 20-page document, which is entitled ‘Gambling Regulation in the Digital Age’ highlights the most important work the Gambling Commission intends to deliver over the next three years (the “Corporate Strategy”).

Accompanying the release of the Corporate Strategy is a short video, in which the Gambling Commission states:

“We’re making better use of data and analytics to make our gambling regulation more effective, enhancing our core operational functions to provide best practice licensing, compliance and enforcement work, setting clear evidence-based requirements for licensees, being proactive in our approach and address potential problems at the earliest opportunity. And finally regulating a successful National Lottery.”

You can watch the Gambling Commission’s video here:

Introduction

The Corporate Strategy is introduced by a foreword from Marcus Boyle, Chair, and Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Gambling Commission.

In the foreword, Boyle and Rhodes note that the way people gamble continues to evolve, and that, since the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have shown that fewer people report that they gamble regularly but consumers are collectively spending more money gambling than in 2019. Coupled with the accelerating development of new technologies, increasing globalisation of gambling business models and significant reforms to the regulation of gambling, Boyle and Rhodes declare that this is a “transformative period for the industry”.

The “ambitious” Corporate Strategy is thus underpinned by two main motivations focused on making gambling safer, fairer and free from crime:

• Delivering on the decisions taken to bring about significant and lasting change to how gambling is provided, and the National Lottery is operated; and
• Investing in key areas to improve how the Gambling Commission delivers its work for consumers, the public and licensees.

The Corporate Strategy sets out how the Gambling Commission commits to achieving these objectives in five areas of strategic focus, which it considers will have the biggest impact in delivering better outcomes for consumers, the public and licensees. Namely:

1. Using data and analytics to make gambling regulation more effective.
2. Enhancing core operational functions.
3. Setting clear evidence-based requirements for licensees.
4. Being proactive and addressing issues at the earliest opportunity.
5. Regulating a successful National Lottery.

We summarise the Gambling Commission’s commitments in each of these five areas below.

Using data and analytics to make gambling regulation more effective

Key Commitments

The Gambling Commission commits to:

• significantly increasing the depth of its understanding of the gambling market and consumer behaviour;
• using data science methods to improve early identification of issues and its understanding of industry compliance;
• building a leading understanding of gambling-related harm; and
• developing its internal capability to embed the effective use of data across all aspects of its work.

By making progress against its published evidence gaps and priorities, undertaking the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (about which we have written in a previous article) and investing in its own people, the Gambling Commission states that consumers, the wider public and licensees will benefit from better outcomes resulting from the Gambling Commission’s better regulation.

Progress metrics

The Gambling Commission will measure its progress against these commitments by:

• assessing itself against the Government Data Maturity Framework;
• annually auditing its data science capacity and testing the progress of improvement in its data tools;
• publishing regulator updates on changes in the gambling sector and its views for the future;
• demonstrating improvement of its understanding of outcomes and approach to evaluation; and
• evidencing how its assessment of risk has improved through timely, targeted and effective interventions.

Enhancing the Gambling Commission’s core operational functions

Key Commitments

The Gambling Commission commits to:

• evolving its licensing, compliance and enforcement work including improving its core processes, technology and related approaches, which it intends will result in processes, approaches and systems being “digital by default”, and “a more responsive and automated experience for applicants and licensees”;
• developing its approach to assurance including increasing transparency of industry compliance levels by theme and licensee – this means that the Gambling Commission will start routinely publishing findings from its work to assess compliance with requirements relating to fairness, protection from harm and crime prevention in 2024 – without identifying specific licensees; and
• increasing investment, resources and capacity to tackle illegal gambling.

Progress metrics

The Gambling Commission will measure its progress in this focus area by:

• publishing its improved performance against key operational performance indicators;
• reporting on levels of industry compliance, building an initial benchmark and then demonstrating positive trends towards greater compliance; and
• publishing the metrics on the impact of its disruption activities relating to illegal gambling operators and highlighting case studies.

The Gambling Commission will also explore the availability of reliable proxies to help estimate the scale and risk posed by the illegal market in Great Britain.

Setting clear, evidence-based requirements for licensees

Key Commitments

The Gambling Commission commits to:

• delivering the measures it is responsible for in the White Paper, including improving player protections and product safety;
• increasing its capacity to evaluate new requirements and policies; and
• reviewing how it communicates its requirements and related guidance to licensees and the public.

Progress metrics

To measure its progress in this focus area, the Gambling Commission will continue to report on the progress of its White Paper commitments, publish the results of its evaluation and research outputs, and support the Government and others in their evaluation of the impact of the White paper reforms.

Being proactive and addressing issues at the earliest opportunity

Key Commitments

The Gambling Commission commits to:

• investing in a programme of activities exploring how licensees can be supported to meet their responsibilities to consumers and the wider public; and
• increasing the resource available to improve its understanding of issues which pose a risk to the fair and open licensing objective.

Progress metrics

The Gambling Commission states that the number of licensees demonstrating an understanding of standards and increased compliance rates will serve to measure its progress in this focus area, as will identifying key metrics such as consumer sentiment on whether gambling is fair and can be trusted. Notably, the Gambling Commission intends to reduce its reliance on formal enforcement tools to secure compliance and focus its efforts more on those who fail to comply.

Regulating a successful National Lottery

Key Commitments

The Gambling Commission commits to:

• completing its oversight and assurance of the transition to, and implementation of, the Fourth National Lottery licence;
• embedding its regulatory approach to the Fourth National Lottery licence; and
• assessing how well the benefits from the new licence arrangements are realised.

So long as player protection is maintained and improved, the Gambling Commission will permit the new National Lottery licensee, Allwyn, to use more freedom and commercial judgement to innovate for the benefit of consumers and the wider public.

Progress metrics

The Gambling Commission will use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess both its progress in this focus area, and Allwyn’s performance against each of its duties, to ensure that performance does not diminish under the operation of the new licensee.

Next steps

The Gambling Commission’s progress in each of the five focus areas will be reported within its annual reports.

Insight

The objectives in the Corporate Strategy are clear. The Gambling Commission is committing to improving the way that it regulates, and it is doing this by: (1) making better use of data; (2) enhancing its own operational functions; (3) setting clear (and importantly, evidence-based) requirements; (4) being proactive; and finally (5) ensuring that the first transition to a new National Lottery licensee in the last three decades, goes smoothly.

All laudable aims, but from our perspective we will be particularly keen to see the Gambling Commission deliver on its commitment to create more efficiencies in its licensing, compliance, and enforcement work. By its own admission, the Gambling Commission’s “core technology and systems are reaching the limits of their capabilities”. Investing in new technologies (provided they are effective, economic, and properly utilised) can only be a positive step for a public body. After all, the gambling industry is often noted for being at the cutting-edge of technology – so it is only appropriate that its regulator should be, too.

We also welcome the announcement that the Gambling Commission will begin publishing the findings of its compliance work this year, without identifying individual licensees. While this is of course important in the context of sanctions and regulatory settlements; this sporadic means of communication can make it difficult for the wider industry to learn from others’ failings. By consolidating anonymised compliance findings relating to fairness, protection from harm and crime prevention into one report, say quarterly, the Gambling Commission is giving all of those that are licensed by it a fairer chance to (i) understand and (ii) comply with its requirements in the future.

The pressure is now on the Gambling Commission to deliver on extensive commitments, not just in the Corporate Strategy but also those imposed on it by the Government in the White Paper. Challenging times lie ahead, and it is in stakeholders’ interests that the Gambling Commission delivers (and is held to account) on its promises. Positive signs are plentiful under Andrew Rhodes’ now established leadership, not least with important new internal appointments in key positions, a genuinely consultative response to its critical summer 2023 consultation on proposed changes to the LCCP and RTS, trial and pragmatism in relation to financial risk checks and meaningful engagement with industry and other key shareholders. Stakeholders may therefore have reason to be optimistic that the Gambling Commission can deliver upon its ambitious corporate strategy, and we are sure its progress will be monitored closely!

With sincere thanks to Chris Biggs for for his invaluable co-authorship.

Please get in touch with us if you would like assistance with any compliance or regulatory matters.