Regulatory update

In the UK, legislation was complex and piecemeal until the Gambling Act 2005 came into force in September 2007.

Background (pre-2007)

The first major Act of Parliament regarding the gambling industry was the 1968 Gaming Act. Before that, the industry was relatively unregulated. The 1968 Act set out broad provisions and principles which subjected British casino operations to highly restrictive measures, and effectively prevented them from any form of marketing. The Gaming Board for Great Britain was responsible for overseeing the Act, reporting to the Home Office. In 2001, it was transferred to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Gambling Act 2005 and the Gambling Commission

This Act repealed most of the existing laws relating to gambling in Great Britain, replacing them with an improved, more comprehensive structure of gambling regulation. A new body, the Gambling Commission, was set up to regulate all commercial gambling in Great Britain apart from spread betting and the National Lottery.

The Act has three licensing objectives, central to the regulatory regime, which underpin the functions that the Gambling Commission and public authorities acting in their capacity as licensing authorities perform. Three types of licences are required by the Act:

• an operator licence concerned with the management and conduct of gambling;
• a personal licence for persons with key operational functions connected with the gambling business; and
• a premises licence for the property where the gambling takes place.

Operator licences and personal licences are issued and regulated by the Gambling Commission.

Prevalence Study

A British Gambling Prevalence Survey is a government-sponsored nationally representative survey of participation in gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling in the UK. The latest Prevalence Study was conducted in 2010 and the results were announced on 15 February 2011. The prevalence of gambling increased to 73% of adult population. Of the two measures of problem gambling reported on, there were non-statistically relevant increases in one and increases at the edge of statistical relevance n the other, respectively from 0.5% to 0.7% and from 0.6% to 0.9% of the adult population, compared with the previous Prevalence Study in 2007. We are reassured that problem gambling affects only a tiny fraction of the population but we remain vigilant. The Study did not identify any causal link to problem gambling from any particular product.

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