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GamingLawPills No. 27 brings news on measures from the UK and the Swedish gambling commission to strenghten self-exclusion systems and the compliance of operators with them.
UK Gambling Commission’s deep scrutiny on self-exclused gamblers
Following the proposal of the UK government to ban credit card gambling analyzed in the GamingLawPills of last week, the UK Gambling Commission announced tougher ID checks to ensure that self-excluded gamblers cannot cheat the system to place bets.
The proposal will be adopted in response to one of the major issues that affected problem gamblers. It refers to the fact that a gambler who had self-excluded could still place bets online by simply changing user details. In this regard, a spokesman from the UK Gambling Commission confirms that :
“[w]e will shortly announce the outcome of a consultation on ID verification and if our proposals are implemented later this year, gambling businesses will have to prevent customers gambling using incorrect details.“
According to information released to press media, in the UK, more than 50.000 people have signed up to free service GamStop. This functionality offers self-exclusion from all online gambling websites with a single registration for periods beginning at six months and extending to five years and allows addicted gamblers to ban themselves from online betting platforms.
However GamStop’s CEO, Fiona Palmer, stressed the lack of efficiency of such a program because it
“would only apply to British gambling sites and sites not licensed with the Gambling Commission would still be accessible. To be effective [self-exclusion] has to be layered“
with a number of self-exclusion forms working together.
In terms of self-exclusion systems such proposal therefore may improve consumers’ protection while – at the same time – ensure proper verification of players from gambling operators.
Swedish gambling commission acts against breaches of compliance with self-exclusion obligations
Following the press news of the Swedish journalists that have been allowed to gamble even though they had signed up to Sweden’s self-exclusion system, the Swedish Gambling Authority (“Spelinspektionen“):
- threatened to begin rescinding online gambling licences of operators that do not comply with the Spelpaus.se self-exclusion scheme;
- issued a warning or fines of up to 10 percent of the licence holder’s turnover.
According to the Swedish regulation, licensed operators in the country are required to verify in advance within the Spelpaus.se register before allowing customers to gamble online and should the player have self-excluded, the operator shall immediately block their access to the site. However, two licensed operators had allegedly breached the self-exclusion regulations and both companies were found to have allowed people who had signed up to the scheme to access gambling services. One of the operators has admitted that its own system failed to integrate the self-exclusion scheme proposing to contact and refund all affected players, while closing all of the accounts in question.
As a result of the breaches, Spelinspektionen said it implemented its oversight of self-exclusion compliance and vowed to “act against the licence holders who do not join Spelpaus.se or who, despite the suspension, allow suspended players to play“.
