Gambling: Prosecutions

(asked on 22nd June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of Gambling Commission investigations into novel products have been brought to prosecution; what proportion of those prosecutions have been successful, and on average how long investigations take prior to prosecution.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 30th June 2022

The Gambling Commission has both regulatory and criminal powers, and its investigation remit covers either regulatory failing by licensees (under LCCP) or criminal offences (under the Gambling Act 2005). The Commission does not record whether an investigation is related to a novel product, but in response to the collapse of BetIndex Limited, the Commission updated how it assesses risk so that novel products are properly considered.

The Commission often refuses a licence to operators if they are shown to be novel at the licence application stage (e.g. if they use cryptocurrency as a source of funds or intend to offer consumers cryptocurrency as a route to play). It cannot bring a prosecution under the Gambling Act 2005 regarding an aspect of a product which is outside of its remit.

The Gambling Commission at all times strives to recruit people with the skills, knowledge and diversity required to regulate the fast moving and innovative gambling sector but it does not retain information on where its staff join from and on the scope of their earlier careers. As well as staff with specialisms in areas of gambling such as cryptocurrency and NFTs, the Commission’s market insights specialists help anticipate industry developments.

All staff in the Commission’s Operations team (around 30% of its workforce) have the technical experience to investigate novel products and new technologies and where content is challenging, call on subject matter experts as appropriate (internal or external). The most recent estimate for the Commission’s overall headcount was around 320.

In order to help equip the Commission to tackle the rate of technological change, four years ago the Commission established a Digital Advisory Panel to advise on the digital landscape and emerging trends which may impact on how the gambling market operates, how the Commission interacts with operators and how they interact with consumers. The Digital Advisory Panel works with staff to explore the impact of emerging technologies on the Commission’s regulatory and policy work to ensure that they are a future-fit and effective regulator.

The Commission does not comment on ongoing cases. Each case has its own circumstances, and the length of prosecution depends on the case complexity and the court process.

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