The new enforcement strategy follows new regulations that were introduced by the Gambling Commission last month and aimed at ensuring that online operators offer all consumers in the UK the same tools to monitor their gambling activities. The measures ensure greater consistency between operators, particularly regarding the information accessible to consumers. Innovation and technological advances have continued to drive growth in the £4.5 billion a year online gambling market and operators are developing new gambling products and technologies. In turn, the Gambling Commission has stated that it will continue to adapt regulation to ensure that these products are "effectively managing the risks to the licensing objectives, keeping gambling safe and fair for all".
The new measures follow a related consultation regarding remote gambling and software technical standards earlier this year and will enhance protections that are already in place by helping consumers to make informed decisions about their online gambling activities. The new requirements require remote operators to:
- ensure that consumers are able to directly access three months' worth of account and gambling information (with a minimum of one month available on request)
- ensure that account and gambling history provides easy to understand totals for a defined period of time (e.g. the ability to view a transaction history for the previous two months)
- give consumers access to information about their net deposits (i.e. the running total of all deposits minus the sum of all withdrawals)
- allow consumers to set financial limits across their entire gambling account as well as individual games.
Operators have until 1 April 2018 until these requirements come into force on 1 April 2018. The Gambling Commission has also published updated remote gambling and software technical standards which include a number of requirements that are due to come into effect on 1 October 2017 and 1 April 2018.
The updated remote gambling and software technical standards can be found here.
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