Compliance Updates
Our UKGC consultation response: Failing to protect the vulnerable should not be the White Paper’s legacy
The dust has settled and the process is complete. The consultation on the proposed changes outlined in the UK Gambling White Paper is closed so now we just have to wait and see. Whilst we do so, we thought that in the spirit of transparency, we would share our own thoughts, more or less as they were communicated in our consultation response to the UK Gambling Commision.
Offering a real-time customer risk profiling tool, ClearStake’s focus was obviously on affordability checks. But then, much of the industry’s attention has been on this topic over the last few months. This is, to our mind, the single most important challenge facing the sector. Addressing it in the right way, a way that protects both punters and operators, will be the key to a sustainable, profitable future.
And with that goal uppermost in our mind, here is what we said:
1. Affordability checks must use real financial data
Certainly at the levels of spend proposed as meriting more thorough checks (£1,000 in a day or £2,000 over the space of three months), we don’t believe there is any real substitute for real financial data, by which we mean bank data. There is simply no other way of establishing whether a player can afford to lose this amount of money or not. Everything else – including data from credit reference agencies – is guesswork. We believe that the single greatest mistake that could be made during this process is not solving the problem of financial harm caused by gambling. That won’t be an issue if the government requires decisions to be made by operators in possession of a proper financial picture of their customers.
2. We can solve two problems at once
The consultation focused on affordability checks, but it would be almost perverse to ignore the wider reality at play here. Operators also have to perform anti money-laundering and source-of-funds (SOF) checks on their customers, and they do so by looking at bank statements. Given this is the case, it makes a lot of sense to us to effectively combine both these requirements within a single check.
3. At higher spend levels, it makes sense to keep customers connected
There has been a lot of talk about how frequently checks should take place, or to put that another way, whether it should be necessary to go back to a customer within six months or a year if they have already passed a check. To us, this rather misses the opportunity presented by Open Banking in particular. After the first check, assuming the player allows it, any checks in future can be entirely frictionless. The connection can remain in place and used when necessary (and only when necessary!) in order to make the ongoing compliance relationship as smooth as possible. We don’t expect ongoing connection to be mandated, but it should certainly be held up as best practice for all concerned.
4. Some of the proposed data points make little sense
When a solution that takes guesswork out of the equation is available, does it really make sense to suggest that postcodes and job titles are meaningful ways to determine an individual’s financial situation? We don’t think so. We believe that continuing to ‘lean in’ to data like this gives a misleading impression that it is good enough. It isn’t. Even as part of a broader decision-making process, it is very difficult to see where some of these data points fit in. You could say the same, of course, about missed loan repayments from three years ago.
5. The solution exists – why cobble together a new one?
Hovering behind the entire consultation process appears to be a not-quite-defined ‘solution’ to the affordability challenge. This is apparent in the various hints towards the use of CATO data (let’s just say it, even if the Commission aren’t willing to) and a hodge-podge of random data points in order to make affordability decisions, as part of a system that would have to be piloted in order to ensure a) it works and b) it doesn’t create data security issues.
Leaving aside the absurdity of asking us to judge the merits of an approach that hasn’t actually been defined, we would simply point out that in Open Banking, a solution to this challenge already exists. One that is already used by over 7 million people in the UK, by most UK operators to handle payments, and already used to handle affordability and SOF checks by forward-thinking operators. Why on earth are we re-inventing the wheel?
So there you have it. That’s what we told the consultation, albeit in language a little less colourful. I hope they listen.
Compliance Updates
New Report Details Current Situation of Online Gambling Outside the Licensed Market in Sweden
The Swedish Gambling Authority, Spelinspektionen, has released a new report detailing the current situation of online gambling that takes place outside the licensed market in Sweden. It contains a survey of the key players who engage in illegal gambling and their methods of reaching Swedish players.
The assessment is that the supply of unlicensed online gambling is large and relatively easily accessible. The Swedish Gambling Authority has developed methods to identify unlicensed gambling sites where Swedes play. It is a relatively small group of players, probably fewer than 5% of the total number of players, who demand games that do not have a Swedish gaming license.
Under current legislation, the Swedish Gambling Authority cannot intervene against all gambling sites that do not have a Swedish gambling license. According to the so-called targeting criterion, the authority can currently only intervene against gambling sites that target gambling customers in Sweden through, for example, marketing or that have gambling sites that are designed for the Swedish market.
“We welcome the ongoing investigation into the expanded scope of application, which is to be reported no later than 17 September this year. Despite the problems with the current scope of application, we believe that our interventions, where possible, are important and have an effect. It is therefore important that we continue our work to combat illegal gambling even during the ongoing investigation of the regulations,” said Spelinspektionen’s Director General Camilla Rosenberg.
The post New Report Details Current Situation of Online Gambling Outside the Licensed Market in Sweden appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
The Karnataka government has announced that it will introduce a new law to regulate online betting and gaming.
Home Minister G Parameshwara said a committee of senior officials and industry representatives has been constituted and it has been given a month’s time to submit a draft of the proposed bill.
“I chaired a meeting regarding online betting and gambling yesterday along with the IT Minister. Representatives from the industry were called. There is nothing to regulate them so far. They have agreed to the introduction of a licence system and a regulation as per law,” he said.
The state government held a high-level meeting to discuss a legal framework for regulating online gaming.
IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge said that the intent of the legislation is to curb online gambling, betting and games of chance, and protect consumers from fraud while supporting innovation and the sustainable growth of the skill-based gaming industry.
Karnataka is set to introduce a legal framework to ban gambling while permitting skill-based games following a model similar to that of Chhattisgarh.
Kharge said he held a detailed meeting with the state home minister, senior government officials, members of online gaming federations, and industry experts to discuss the proposed framework.
“The legitimate online skill-based gaming industry in India is a sunrise sector worth USD 4 billion, contributing Rs 12,000 crore in taxes and creating over 1.5 lakh jobs. Karnataka alone accounts for 25 percent of the market and contributes Rs 1350 crore annually in taxes, making it a key hub,” he said.
The minister also raised concerns over the growing underground market of offshore gambling and illegal betting.
“Alongside the legitimate sector, there is a parallel underground market that is expanding rapidly, posing risks such as predatory money collection practices, dubious shell companies, financial fraud, data breaches, and cybercrimes,” he said.
Kharge also held discussions with representatives of the E-Gaming Federation (EGF), the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) regarding their collaborative “Code of Ethics” for the industry.
The post Karnataka Govt to Introduce New Law to Regulate Online Betting and Gaming appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Compliance Updates
BC.GAME Upgrades to @bcgame Telegram Link for Unified Access and Increased Security
BC.GAME, a prominent cryptocurrency entertainment platform, announced the official upgrade of its Telegram group with a new link: https://t.me/bcgame. This shift represents an important step forward for the platform in terms of brand unification, community operations and user identification paths.
BC.GAME, one of the most active platforms in the crypto entertainment market, has a sizable user base spread across channels such as Telegram, Discord and Twitter. The Telegram community alone has millions of members from many critical areas. Behind each time zone, a committed group of gamers and community administrators keeps the community alive by sharing gaming experiences, uploading the most recent event announcements and assisting new users in swiftly integrating into the distinctive “BC community culture”.
Unifying the group link is both a way to make the platform’s design more consistent and a way to improve the user experience. It’s easier and faster for new players to remember t.me/bcgame than any of the other subdomain names. For current players, it means a clearer official entry point, which makes it less likely that they will run into fake groups.
The post BC.GAME Upgrades to @bcgame Telegram Link for Unified Access and Increased Security appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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