UKGC Finally Provided Its Feedback on Financial Sanctions

By John Isaac,
Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac is an editor with many years of experience in the gambling industry. He writes expert articles on card games like blackjack and poker. In addition, he is also well aware of the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets. You can rely on verified information and insightful details.

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Last updated: March 14, 2020

The Gambling Business Group (GBG), the UK gambling industry’s strategic arm, has finally received the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) feedback on the importance and distribution of financial sanctions and voluntary agreements.

Man in a casino © Whekevi

GBG has filed a request for freedom of information to the UKGC exposing financial penalties totaling £ 58,946,578 over a five-and-a-half-year period from June 2014 to December 2019.

It was further disclosed that the Gambling Commission received £756,997 from these funds to cover its costs in performing the inquiries. Around £24 m of the fines have been resettled to those who have fallen victim to illegal gambling activities with £ 34,843,338 being diverted to negotiated’ socially responsible uses’ as laid out in the Commission’s Statement of Principles for Financial Sanctions.

GBG’s CEO Also Addressed the Topic

Peter Hannibal, CEO of GBG, said: “When we first wrote to then-Minister Tracey Crouch and subsequently requested the Commission for the details, we were told (by the Gambling Commission) that they did not consider it to be a priority.”

Hannibal also added that under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) people are eligible to request information from any publicly funded agency and to receive responses that they have now obtained.

He also noted that it seems that the Commission will not have an objective mechanism in place to test if the funds committed to socially good ends have been successfully invested and have delivered the expected effects. Hannibal said it was although there is a duty under the Commission’s Statement of Principles to assess the efficiency of the spending for socially responsible reasons in a substantive way.

Peter said that all RET funding services are vitally critical and should be invested where harm reduction and prevention are most successful. It is one of the few issues to which all UK Gaming stakeholders can rely on. He said the origins of the funds does not matter because all the funds are equally valued and would also be subject to successful valuation.

By addressing this doubt, Hannibal finally gave the gambling community in the UK the much-wanted details that perhaps many of the gamblers have been waited for with months.

The Gambling Industry Now Has Stricter Regulations

The UK gambling industry has recently gone through some major changes in terms of its regulations. Some of those regulations include blocking the use of credit cards for all transactions related to gambling activities and also introduced the new maximum betting-limits on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). These changes in the gambling regulations were made in an attempt to protect customers from possible gambling-harm, however, it indeed affected the gambling industry itself.

Following those regulations many of the gambling enthusiasts were left with unanswered questions in terms of gambling and betting activities – however, UKGC finally gave its feedback.

Moreover, according to some new findings, the gambling industry in the UK seems to not have a bright future ahead as according to the predictions there will be a significant drop in the revenue in the years to come. The Gambling Business Group (GBG), the UK gambling industry’s strategic arm, has finally received the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) feedback on the importance and distribution of financial sanctions and voluntary agreements.

GBG has filed a request for freedom of information to the UKGC exposing financial penalties totaling £ 58,946,578 over a five-and-a-half-year period from June 2014 to December 2019. It was further disclosed that the Gambling Commission received £756,997 from these funds to cover its costs in performing the inquiries. Around £24 m of the fines have been resettled to those who have fallen victim to illegal gambling activities with £ 34,843,338 being diverted to negotiated’ socially responsible uses’ as laid out in the Commission’s Statement of Principles for Financial Sanctions.

GBG’s CEO Also Addressed the Topic

Peter Hannibal, CEO of GBG, said: “When we first wrote to then-Minister Tracey Crouch and subsequently requested the Commission for the details, we were told (by the Gambling Commission) that they did not consider it to be a priority.” Hannibal also added that under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) people are eligible to request information from any publicly funded agency and to receive responses that they have now obtained.

He also noted that it seems that the Commission will not have an objective mechanism in place to test if the funds committed to socially good ends have been successfully invested and have delivered the expected effects. Hannibal said it was although there is a duty under the Commission’s Statement of Principles to assess the efficiency of the spending for socially responsible reasons in a substantive way. Peter said that all RET funding services are vitally critical and should be invested where harm reduction and prevention are most successful. It is one of the few issues to which all UK Gaming stakeholders can rely on. He said the origins of the funds does not matter because all the funds are equally valued and would also be subject to successful valuation.

By addressing this doubt, Hannibal finally gave the gambling community in the UK the much-wanted details that perhaps many of the gamblers have been waited for with months.

The Gambling Industry Now Has Stricter Regulations

The UK gambling industry has recently gone through some major changes in terms of its regulations. Some of those regulations include blocking the use of credit cards for all transactions related to gambling activities and also introduced the new maximum betting-limits on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). These changes in the gambling regulations were made in an attempt to protect customers from possible gambling-harm, however, it indeed affected the gambling industry itself.

Following those regulations many of the gambling enthusiasts were left with unanswered questions in terms of gambling and betting activities – however, UKGC finally gave its feedback. Moreover, according to some new findings, the gambling industry in the UK seems to not have a bright future ahead as according to the predictions there will be a significant drop in the revenue in the years to come.