GC Announces Changes for Licensees in the UK

Following the society lottery changes, GC announced display of licensed status and LCCP changes which the regulator plans to enforce starting on October 31.

LCCP Changes for Licensees Introduced by the GC

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced changes to the license conditions and codes of practice (LCCP). The changes will be in effect from October 31. Prior to the announcement of the changes, the UKGC launched a 12-week consultation on the subject. The Commission said that it received 70 written responses on the consultation. Here is a breakdown of the responses it received. The commission received:

• 50 responses from license holders
• 7 responses from trade associations
• 3 responses from charitable, academic organizations or non-profit organizations
• 6 responses from members of the public
• 4 responses from other sources

According to the Commission, the consultation sought to improve the data requirements, making it more efficient for the regulator and licensees. As a result of the consultation, some 22 changes were introduced to the LCCP conditions, regulatory data returns and official statistic publication.

The proposals aimed at improving data quality and efficiency of regulation. The Commission also wanted to keep the focus on customers and social responsibility. In addition, the proposals sought streamline of existing requirements as well as ensuring that current requirements are reconciled for present and future data needs. Last but not least, with the proposals the Commission was after reducing the regulatory burden.

Changes Introduced to Display of Licensed Status

In addition to the LCCP changes, the GC announced changes to display of the licensed status of operators in the UK. In a separate consultation by the UKGC over a period of 12 weeks, it received 30 written responses. Categorization of the responses shows:

• 20 responses from license holders
• 3 responses from trade associations
• 4 responses from charitable organizations
• 1 response from members of the public
• 2 responses from other sources

The GC consultation was aiming at changing license condition 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 as well as introducing a new condition 8.1.3. The changes were after standardization of the licensed status information displayed on business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) websites and mobile applications. In addition, the proposals were seeking to extend the requirements to non-commercial societies, local authorities and external lottery managers (ELMs) offering access to lottery products online. The GC said that the changes aimed at improving the visibility of the licensee’s licensed status. With the help of the changes, consumers using online gambling products will see the status of the licensee, which actually supports the work of the GC. Similar to the LCCP changes, the display of licensed status changes will come in effect from October 31.

Changes to Society Lotteries by the GC Already in Effect

Earlier this week, the GC announced changes to society lotteries which are already in effect. The changes introduced raise of the prize limits but also more transparency towards lottery spending. GC executive director Sarah Gardner commented on the subject by saying: “This consultation has strengthened several important aspects of our license conditions and codes of practice which apply to society lotteries.” She added that with those changes, consumers will be fully informed which will help them make a decision whether to participate in the lotteries.

The changes introduced by the GC raised the maximum amount of a single prize win from £400,000 to £500,000. On the other hand, individual draw proceeds were changed from £4 million to £5 million. Furthermore, the annual aggregate limit proceeds were changed from £10 million to £50 million.