May 1, 2018

The Gambling Commission has published its annual business plan for 2018/2019, setting out its priorities for the forthcoming year “to make gambling fairer and safer and to raise standards across the industry”.

The business plan sets out five key areas and, in keeping with the Commission’s 2018 – 2021 strategy, puts consumers at the forefront of this year’s focus:

• Protect the interests of consumers by strengthening the rules on advertising, introducing additional requirements for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) providers, tracking key consumer metrics and public attitudes to gambling and gambling advertising, and looking at the impact of gambling advertisements on children, young people and vulnerable people;
• Prevent harm to consumers and the public by supporting innovation and research into safer gambling, enhancing consumer protection regarding customer verification and reviewing gaming machine regulations in response to the outcomes of the Government’s gambling review;
• Raise standards in the gambling market by creating an annual enforcement report for the industry on raising standards in the gambling market, delivering a programme for the industry on best practice and conducting strategic assessments of gambling related crime;
• Optimise returns to good causes from lotteries by engaging stakeholders on potential scenarios for the next National Lottery, developing a ‘Good Cause Returns’ model, providing better information for consumers raised by society lotteries are used and increasing the money raised for good causes by taking informed decisions about regulations; and
• Improve regulation by establishing a panel to advise the Commission on digital technology developments, updating the Commission website on the basis of user research and defining requirements for a replacement system to hold core licensee and operator information.

The business plan, which is the first of three to be published over the Commission’s three year strategy, can be viewed here.