UKGC Guidance During COVID-19 Outbreak

As the situation with the outbreak of COVID-19 progresses, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission is following Public Health England guidance and all staff has been directed to work from home until further notice.

The UKGC recognizes the unprecedented circumstances will have a significant impact on businesses and that many will face uncertain and unsettling times. The Commission has a well-practiced Business Continuity Plan in place, which will be invoked with the intention of minimizing the impact on their regulatory work and the advice and services the Commission provides.

The Commission states that it has already been ed by a number of operators who wish to alert them about the challenges they will be facing, seeking advice about how to proceed.

The UKGC has released a guidance statement on how it will be operating during this troubling time, along with important reminders about how the operators should continue to protect consumers. The guidance statement is as follows:

COVID -19 – A reminder to operators

First and foremost, we expect all our licensees to follow the applicable Public Health guidance. Where facilities for gambling are being offered we expect all our licensees to ensure that they have sufficient management, staffing and oversight in place to maintain compliance with the LC that apply to their licences.

Fees and applications

Our expectation remains that licensees ensure the maintenance of sufficient management, staffing and oversight in order to uphold the licensing objectives. Licensees should assess their ability to maintain compliance with the LC and consider voluntary partial or full suspension of their offerings should compliance not be achievable and until such time that a fully compliant service can be offered.

Unfortunately, due to the way that our fee system is structured we don’t have the ability to reduce fees.

We are also unable to fast track applications. We will continue to monitor the situation and will communicate any changes to our expectations accordingly.

A reminder specifically for online operators

The social distancing measures that are being put in place will mean that more people will be at home and we would like to remind online operators that they must continue to act responsibly, especially in regards to individual customer affordability and increased social responsibility interactions.

As a reminder, we expect licensees to:

Assess individual affordability on an ongoing basis – customers may be experiencing disrupted income. (Social Responsibility code 3.4 refers to our guidance – ‘Customer interaction- formal guidance for remote gambling operators’ )

Increase social responsibility interactions and intervene where customers are showing signs of gambling related harm

Onboard new customers in a socially responsible way and not exploit the current situation for marketing purposes

Refresh the information they have on customers regularly

Review the levels which trigger interaction for AML and SR

Ensure that your gambling products have been tested by a test house before they are released to the market.

Source:

“UK Gambling Commission guidance in light of COVID-19 outbreak”, europeangaming.eu, March 20, 2020.