Regulatory Timeline | Gambling - April 2016
Published on 14th Apr 2016
“Following the transition to point-of-consumption taxation, various code changes and a new Chief Executive now settling in at the Gambling Commission, the good news for British-licensed gambling operators is that we look to be set for a period of relative regulatory stability.”
Nick Johnson, Partner, Osborne Clarke
6 April 2016 – Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)
Various new LCCP came into force on 6 April 2016, including:
- social responsibility code provision 3.5.6 (non-remote multi-operator self-exclusion);
- social responsibility code 10.1.1 (assessment of local risk); and
- ordinary code provision 10.1.2 (sharing local risk assessments).
2016 – Testing strategy for compliance with remote gambling and software technical standards (Testing Strategy)
A Gambling Commission consultation on proposed changes to the Testing Strategy closed on 11 February 2016. Amongst other things, the proposed changes would introduce formal monitoring of game performance, as well as moves towards being more consistent and aligned with gambling regulators in other jurisdictions.
We are expecting the Gambling Commission’s response to the consultation later in 2016.
2016 – Remote gambling and software technical standards (RTS)
The Gambling Commission has said that its consultation on Testing Strategy (see above) will be followed in 2016 by a wider review of the RTS.
2016/17 – Under-18s in social media
The 2nd edition of the Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising (part of the LCCP, discussed above) states that “the government intends, in co-operation with the industry and other stakeholders, to undertake further work to ensure that under 18s are suitably protected when using social media”.
The timetable and nature of that work are currently unclear.
Q2/Q3 2017 – Reform of gambling regulation in Northern Ireland
Legislation to implement changes originally proposed in a Department for Social Development consultation in 2011 was not prepared in time to be introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly before the Assembly elections in May 2016. The latest announcement states that new gambling legislation is “unlikely to be in place before the middle of 2017, at the earliest”.
The proposals would broadly bring Northern Ireland more into line with the position in the rest of the UK.
