The UK Gambling Commission is set to implement changes to its rules on fines and penalties.
These changes will take effect on 10 October and are designed to make penalties clearer, more consistent, and closely linked to the operator involved.
Between late 2023 and early 2024, the UKGC conducted a consultation to gather views on updates to its Statement of Principles for Determining Financial Penalties. In other words, it sought feedback on how penalties should be applied to gambling operators.
Following a review of the responses, the UKGC has confirmed a series of financial changes, which will take effect at the end of this week.
What Changes Will Be Made?
The first change to take effect will be a seven-step process that will form the basis for determining financial penalties.
Secondly, there will be clearer guidance on how the Commission calculates the amount of money to return to consumers when a breach by a casino operator has resulted in financial gain for the operator and distress to players.
Thirdly, each breach will be assessed individually, separate from any factors that might increase or reduce the penalty.
In addition, the UKGC will be required to be transparent about how it determines the severity of a breach. Breaches will be categorised into five levels of seriousness to ensure clarity and consistency.
The new rules also state that the penalty process will begin based on the seriousness of the breach, with an explanation provided. The final penalty will take into account both the severity of the breach and the amount of money gained by the operator during that period.
For cases involving multiple breaches, a separate method will be used to consider all breaches together.
If the UKGC wants to make adjustments to the penalty, they can, based on various factors like:
- Aggravating factors – Factors which made the breach worse at the fault of the operator. (Would result in higher fines).
- Mitigating factors – Circumstances which make the offence less serious, such as cooperating with the regulator.
- Deterrence – Increasing fines/penalties to send a message to other operators, to deter them from breaching regulations.
Is This A Good Thing?
Transparency in regulatory fines is a good thing, because finning operators are fairly common. If operators don’t know exactly how and why they are being fined, it is unfair. Additionally, providing an opportunity for fines to be reduced based on how operators behave during the fining process is a nice touch, because they may learn from the experience.
However, it is right to punish operators harshly who deliberately ignore the rules and profit from the breach more than one operator who acknowledged their wrongdoing.
