The regulator has announced a new pilot project.
UK.- The British Gambling Commission has reiterated its belief in the importance of using operator data to build knowledge on gambling. Writing in a blog post on the regulator’s website, Ben Haden, the programme director of insights and engagement, said that more detailed data was still needed to fill evidence gaps and highlighted two upcoming actions.
The first relates to regulatory returns, the basic information that operators provide as part of their licence conditions. He said the regulator believes it can “sharpen” the existing dataset and “a significant number of items which are out of date or not useful.”
However, he also said that the regulator would need to increase frequency for many licensees, from annual to quarterly and to align reporting dates to be more timely in appreciating changes in the market and managing income. He said the regulator will consult on the frequency in November.
More detailed data from gambling operators
Secondly, Haden outlined plans for a pilot to receive a more detailed dataset from operators, including daily aggregated consumer data.
“We think data like this will really help us understand the impact of policy changes, in particular as a result of the Gambling Act Review,” he wrote. “When we evaluate, we want to be able to get early indications of impact, where we may need to take different action as a result. It may also mean less ad-hoc requests from operators in relation to each change.”
He added: “When we start to triangulate this with our consumer surveys and other available datasets we will have a much more informed perspective overall. It is just a pilot at this stage, so we will see how it goes and the value it actually brings before pushing out more widely.”
Haden invited operators interested in being part of the pilot to contact the regulator.
Meanwhile, the British Gambling Commission is also currently conducting consultations outlined in the Gambling White Paper. It has four consultations running focusing on online game design, financial risk checks for online gambling, direct marketing and cross-selling and age verification at land-based gambling venues.
CEO Andrew Rhodes has said that the consultation on financial risk checks is the most challenging and he has clashed with the industry and media, accusing Racing Post of publishing “imbalanced stories” about the proposals.
