“How do you balance consumer joy against the potential damage?” McArthur said. “A source of fun for most – and deeply ingrained in British life – but one that can cause harm to some.”

Like Mims Davies, minister for sport and civil society, before him, McArthur welcomed gambling related harm being recognised as a health issue as “a big step forward,” while he also welcomed the sector’s improved attitude to socially responsible gambling.

“But progress has been slower than everyone had hoped,” he cautioned. “‘Responsible gambling’ tends to focus on the individual’s behaviour,” said McArthur. adding that addressing the issues as “gambling related harm” shifts the onus to the operators.

“We using ‘gambling related harm’ as it goes wider than the individual and looks at the affects on families and society.

“We need more diversity in the gambling industry,” he said. “In research, in the understanding of consumer behaviour, in terms of interventional techniques and also with regards to treatment.

“We have made progress,” said McArthur, “but to maximise we need to harness the good intentions of the leaders in the gambling industry and nurture a culture that draws on the wide range of skills and experience – to benefit consumers and wider society.”

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Designed to provide stronger protection whilst ensuring gambling organisations treat consumers in a fair manner, this introduction follows an open consultation period, and allows the industry regulator to act upon breaches more promptly and easily.  

Detailing the process, the commission stated in its consultation response: “We have considered all the responses to our consultation on changes to the Licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP). We have taken the decision to strengthen requirements on licensees in key areas, in order to ensure gambling is fair and open for consumers.”

Adding: “We received an unprecedented level of consumer interest in our consultation with widespread support for the proposals. In addition to the specific issues covered by the consultation we received a number of responses concerning the restricting or closing of gambling accounts for commercial purposes.

“In the absence of new legal or regulatory requirements, we consider the steps taken by some licensees to adopt minimum bet guarantees on a voluntary basis to be a sensible approach. Such initiatives, where implemented in good faith, indicate a willingness to listen to and act on consumers’ concerns.”

Breaking down further what the changes mean for operators, it is detailed that:

• It will be easier to take action, including imposing fines, against gambling businesses that break the advertising rules (such as advertising that appeals particularly to children or glamourises gambling)
• Firms will face action for advertising failings by third party affiliates
• It will be quicker and easier to take action for breaches of consumer law (such as unfair and misleading practices or unreasonable restrictions on withdrawals)
• Firms will have to provide better complaints processes, including an eight week deadline for complaints to be resolved
• Action can be taken against gambling firms that send spam marketing emails or texts.

Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive, said: “Protecting the interests of consumers is a priority for us and needs to be a priority for gambling operators.

“These changes will protect consumers from irresponsible advertising and misleading promotions, ensure that they can withdraw their money more easily, and will mean that firms have to deal with complaints more swiftly.”

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McArthur told the 170 leaders from more than 100 gambling businesses: “I want consumers in Britain to be able to enjoy the fairest and safest gambling in the world… and to achieve my aims I need your support.

“I need you to work together to make sure you are the best – the fairest, safest – gambling operators in the world.”

The chief executive encouraged collaboration and focus in three areas – understanding the early signs that could indicate a customer is developing problems; interacting with those customers to ensure they receive support; and rebuilding public trust by changing advertising strategies.

“This is a call to action to join the race to the top,” said McArthur. “A race to put your customers, their enjoyment and their safety at the top of the agenda for your management meetings, your board meetings and meetings with your investors.

“A race to approach the minimum requirements we impose as exactly that: minimums not maximums. A race to look for real solutions to the public health issue of gambling related harm.” he said.

Guy Parker, chief executive of the Advertising Standards Authority, said: “The existing rules that regulate the content and targeting of gambling advertising are working effectively, but there is public concern about the timing and quantity.

“Today’s Gambling Commission conference is a great opportunity for gambling firms to discuss how those concerns might be addressed.”

George Lusty, senior director for consumer protection at the Competition and Markets Authority, said: “We’ve seen gambling operators making changes to promotions and withdrawal practices, and this is a great start, but it’s only one aspect of achieving compliance and clearly much more needs to be done by the sector to win back customer trust.

“The best operators going forward will be those who lead by example, those who build on the work we’ve done and treat their consumers fairly and responsibly.”

Read Neil McArthur’s speech in full here

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This is to allow the successor to current chairman Bill Moyes, whose term of office ends later this year, to appoint a permanent chief executive in due course. 

Whilst the recruitment process is ongoing, deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner and chief operating officer Sally Jones will jointly become acting chief executive.

“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Neil for his many years of commitment and service to the Gambling Commission,” Moyes stated. “A lot has been achieved during his time here and Neil can rightly feel proud of the organisation’s progress during his tenure as chief executive.”

During McArthur’s time in the role, the UKGC says that it has gone through “a significant period of change as it equips itself to meet the challenges of regulating a rapidly changing and increasingly digital gambling market”. 

Confirming the departure, the UKGC added on McArthur’s time at the helm: “Neil has overseen strengthening of protections against gambling harms- through the banning of gambling on credit cards; through enhanced age verification checks; and, most recently, through new requirements to build in protections to the design of online products. 

“He has led moves to ensure that those impacted by gambling harms have their voices heard in the Commission’s decision making, culminating in the recent establishment of the lived experience advisory panel. Over the last 12 months Neil has also successfully navigated the organisation through the challenges that the global pandemic has brought.”

The departure comes at a busy time for the UKGC, amid the ongoing review of the 2005 Gambling Act, under the stewardship of John Whittingdale, as well as the fourth licence process for the National Lottery. The regulator had previously said that it is aiming to name the preferred applicant in September 2021. 

McArthur stated of the decision to step aside: “I am proud of everything the Gambling Commission has achieved during my 15 years with the organisation. We have taken significant steps forward to make gambling fairer and safer and I know that I leave the organisation in a strong position to meet its future challenges.

“With a review of the Gambling Act underway, now feels the right time to step away and allow a new chief executive to lead the Commission on the next stage in its journey.”

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He has called on operators to demonstrate extra vigilance during the new national lockdown, particularly with the continuation of elite level sport meaning “there are more opportunities for betting customers to gamble”.

“Most people will be spending more time at home and many people are likely to be feeling more isolated and vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period, the new restrictions and further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances,” McArthur says in his statement.

Acknowledging that “we know that the restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19 have had an impact on customer behaviour,” McArthur says no should be in any doubt “about how closely we are monitoring issues or our willingness to take further action if we deem that necessary”.

A number of expectations have been laid out by the regulator, which includes a reminder to continue following strengthened guidance issued during the first lockdown, and taking close interest in data that shows consumers expanding their portfolio of games and spending more time or money than before.  

The need to interact directly where triggers are reached, as well as more generic email engagement, is also detailed, as well as the necessity to “avoid any temptation to exploit the current situation for marketing purposes and be very cautious when seeking to cross-sell products”.

The UKGC itself says that it will continue to take steps to permanently strengthen regulatory requirements, encompassing changes to RTS and LCCP to protect consumers, in addition to monitoring the behaviour of operators and consumers closely and conducting compliance assessments during this latest lockdown as was undertaken previously.

“The gambling industry and daily life as a whole continues to be impacted by the pandemic and whilst there is some light and hope ahead with the vaccine, I want to ensure operators are clear of our expectations,” McArthur adds to conclude the statement. 

“Since March we have all adapted to new ways of working and this new phase will be a challenge for us all. However, operators must now more than ever, continue to be vigilant to protect their customers.”

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It follows a House of Commons Public Account Committee report which also branded the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Media as ‘complacent’.

A spokesperson from the Gambling Commission said: “We are committed to making even further and faster progress to address gambling harms and were already addressing a number of the issues highlighted by the National Audit Office earlier this year.

“Over the past two years we have strengthened player protection measures, tightened the regulation of the online sector, introduced strict age and ID verification checks, brought in a ban on gambling with credit cards, and been tougher through our enforcement activity. 

“In recent weeks we have also established an Experts by Experience advisory group who will help us to strengthen our efforts and help ensure we make an impact where it matters.

“We accepted before the Committee that there is always more to do and we are carefully considering the findings of their report to see what other additional steps we can take.” 

The report was based on one evidence session with DCMS permanent secretary Sarah Healey and Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur as well as 17 written submissions which highlighted several recommendations. 

These included proactive measures for consumer care, such as league tables, a ‘radical’ improvement on the data collected and the strengthening of consumer rights.

Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Committee, said: “What has emerged in evidence is a picture of a torpid, toothless regulator that doesn’t seem terribly interested in either the harms it exists to reduce or the means it might use to achieve that. 

“The Commission needs a radical overhaul: it must be quicker at responding to problems, update company licence conditions to protect vulnerable consumers and beef up those consumers’ rights to redress when it fails.”

The report highlighted that the Gambling Commission is failing to measure its own effectiveness with it expressing concerns over whether the regulator has a ‘limited understanding’ of its actions and the resulting impact.

The report read: “The Commission has clear overall objectives to ensure that gambling is fair and safe but does not have meaningful indicators to measure whether it is being effective, and therefore to be held to account. The Commission also has limited understanding of the impact of its actions to improve outcomes for consumers.

“For example, it increased the value of the financial penalties it enforced from £1.4m in 2014-15 to £19.6m in 2018-19, but it does not know whether this increase has strengthened the deterrent on operators to break rules. The Commission acknowledges it can do more to improve how it evaluates its impact and is planning work to strengthen its evaluation framework. 

“Under the current regime, consolidation within the industry results in a reduction in the Gambling Commission’s budget regardless of the impact on the gambling yield. The Gambling Commission told the Committee that a recent merger could result in a reduction of £400,000 in the Commission’s budget. 

“In contrast to the Commission’s £19m a year, the gambling industry has agreed to spend £60m to treat problem gamblers. 

“The government has approached other public health issues on the basis that prevention is better than cure. However, the Department was unwilling to accept the premise that increasing the Commission’s budget to prevent harm would be preferable to spending on treating problem gamblers.”

The report concluded by stating that the Commission and DCMS were looking at ways to improve the regulatory funding model, which included changes to licence fees through secondary legislation. It also confirmed that some aspects would require primary legislation, particularly if the Commission needed additional powers.

In response to the report, the Betting and Gaming Council stated that the industry is ‘working hard to raise standards to help problem gamblers and those at risk’ and noted that both the regulator and the government have ‘made it clear that there is no evidence that problem gambling has increased’.

The BGC said: “Our industry is already heavily regulated. We mustn’t drive customers to offshore, black market, illegal operators that don’t have any of our safeguards, and we do want to see more action taken against the unregulated industry. 

“We are committed to making more voluntary changes and driving up safer gambling standards. We will work with the Gambling Commission and the Government to achieve this, particularly on the forthcoming Review of the Gambling Act.”

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The former is a collaboration designed to provide advice, evidence and recommendations to help inform decision making and raise standards, with the latter subsequently being set-up to advise the regulator on a more established basis. 

The interim group will be in place for a minimum period of six months, when the UKGC plans to move to its permanent group which will add to other advice that the regulator receives through forums such as the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel.

Not currently disclosing any participating members, the regulator asserts that input gained will add significant insight as it strives to include the views of consumers. This includes information and feedback received from the consumer contact centres, online consumer research panels and engagement and consultations on regulatory changes.

Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive, explained: “Our goal is to make gambling safer for consumers and the creation of the interim group is another important step in helping us bring a wider range of perspectives into our work.

“We will work with the interim group to co-create a formal advisory board, which will allow us to involve Experts by Experience more closely in the development of our regulatory framework.

“I am really grateful for the open and constructive way in which members of the interim group have shared their personal experiences of gambling related harm and for everyone’s commitment to work together to tackle these important issues.  

“It is early days and we are learning along the way to ensure that feedback and advice is utilised in the most effective way. This week we looked at the subject of affordability and we’ll be focused on other areas of player protection online in the weeks ahead.”

This creation follows the UKGC’s March workshops which saw individuals with lived experience asked to offer perspectives on key topics including high value customers,  advertising technology and safe game design – three areas the regulator had challenged the industry to make progress on quickly. 

The group also discussed ideas about how the Commission could better work with people with lived experience, and the need for more effective engagement and collaboration to benefit consumers, working together to prevent harm and make gambling safer.

“The interim group comprises a group of people who have suffered a wide range of gambling harms, including recovering gambling addicts, family and partners of addicts, and those who have lost children to gambling suicides,” a spokesperson for the interim group commented.

“The role that is too often allocated to Experts by Experience of telling our stories and commenting on narrowly defined questions is ineffective, so the establishment of the group is long overdue.

“We are determined that EbEs should play a continuing and much more active role in the deliberations and decision making across the whole remit of the Commission as part of the National Strategy to reduce gambling harms. We bring a new and vital perspective on key issues of regulation and even how the Commission itself works.

“We and they are learning how we can best work together, but we feel that there is a genuine commitment all round to make it work. Some of our comments were incorporated into the progress update on the industry-led working groups, but in future we may issue our own comments on issues that we have consulted with the Commission. 

“We appreciate that the Commission recognises the value of our input, but we differ on certain key issues. Notably on how far and how fast improvements can be made. We look forward to working with the Commission.”

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McArthur addressed both industry leaders and wider stakeholders at ‘CMS Gambling Conference’ in London, in which he underlined the UKGC’s obligation of protecting consumers first and foremost.

Opening up to those in attendance, the chief executive shared personal stories with the room and discussed how the UKGC is trying to ‘change mindsets’: “It is easy to accuse regulators of being ‘asleep on the job’ but it isn’t true. I lead a team who are passionately committed to making gambling safer. 

“I have colleagues on our contact centre dealing directly with consumers, some of whom are in crisis and need help. We meet frequently with people with lived experience and we try and bring them into our work and will try to do more of that, because it helps change mindsets. 

“I have gambled and I can see why people gamble, provided it doesn’t become a problem. At the same time, I spent my early career as a local authority child protection lawyer – I know the terrible effects that addiction and neglect can have on families. 

“Consumers have always been at the heart of our approach to regulation and they always will be.  We don’t suggest that we know better than they do, we bring them into our work and we want to do that more and more in the future.”

McArthur also discussed the extent of the UK’s problem gambling issue and relayed that the right mindset is needed to reduce the 340,000 figure of individuals who are classed within the bracket. Moreover, the chief executive also warned industry leadership that commission will remain ‘tough’ if expectations aren’t met. 

He added: “If you think that we cannot reduce the number of people experiencing gambling related harm, you need to find another job. There is a saying: if you believe nothing can be done, you have already failed.  

“Your mindset is wrong and that self-limiting belief means that you are going to struggle to make progress. So if you cannot change your mindset you need to go and do something else and make way for other people.

“The Commission will continue to be tough on those who do not meet our expectations but I am pleased to be able to say that we are seeing signs that behaviour is changing. When I visit operators, I am introduced to integrated teams, where money laundering and safer gambling issues are shared and a more holistic, real-time, view of each consumer is being built up.”

Reaffirming his commitment to make gambling safer, McArthur acknowledged the progress that has been made, however, reiterated the need for further progress and risk taking within the industry as, due to technological advancements, the risks to consumers is ever increasing.

He concluded: “Changes in consumer behaviour and technology will continue to create new risks to consumers and new opportunities to keep them safer. Taking those opportunities will need us all to take risks. Not everything will work. Nothing will be acclaimed or praised until there is clear evidence that it is having a true impact.

“I and my colleagues at the Commission stand ready to work with anyone who shares our determination to make gambling safer. If we work together, I am sure we can do that.”

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The public face for the year-round commitment sees Responsible Gambling Week held Thursday 7 – Wednesday 13, 2019, with an objective set of highlighting the tools and advice and help available to customers, as well as the initiatives being taken by operators to promote social responsibility.

In the UK, the IGRG will spearhead the campaign while the Irish element of the campaign will be led by the Irish Bookmakers Association. The duo will focus upon delivering information on the initiatives that are available to customers.

Neil McArthur, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, explained: “The week’s strapline, ‘Let’s talk about safer gambling’, is an important message not only for customers but also for the staff and industry leaders whose role is to look out for their customers. 

“It provides an opportunity for people across the gambling industry, no matter what their role is, to focus on what part they can play to make gambling safer and reduce gambling harms”.

In excess of 120,000 staff at thousands of gambling venues and online sites are to take part in this year’s Responsible Gambling Week, with machine operators and pubs across the country also set to promote relevant messages.

During the week staff from across the entire industry, including arcades, bingo clubs, bookmakers and casinos, will be empowered to initiate conversations with customers about safer gambling, with messaging to be prominently displayed at all venues. 

“We are confident that Responsible Gambling Week, now in its third year, will be our biggest campaign yet, but this is not just about one week in the year, it is about promoting safer gambling all year round,” states John Hagan, chairman of the IGRG. 

“We want to make this an open and inclusive conversation, connecting with the widest possible audience, including those who do not think messages about responsible gambling are aimed at them.

“We want to take the message about safer gambling even further this year, through our own social channels, with the support of our partners inside the industry and beyond”.

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The organisation joins EY, who are supporting the commercial and competition design, Deloitte, who are charged with policy development and licence design, and Hogan Lovells, who are the Commission’s external legal advisors, to pick the operator of the National Lottery.

Current incumbent Camelot, whose right to operate expires in 2023, is expected to face fierce competition to hold on to the monopoly, which the UKGC states will remain in place as appointing a single licensee “is considered the best way to serve the National Lottery and returns to good causes”.

Rothschild is charged with delivering the competition and engaging interested parties ahead of the official launch of the competition in early next year.

Edward Duckett, managing director of Rothschild & Co, explained: “The National Lottery is one of the largest and most successful lotteries globally and is of significant national importance. 

“The competition for the fourth National Lottery licence is one which has the potential to generate interest from a wide range of national and international operators. 

“We are delighted to have been entrusted by the Gambling Commission as their lead adviser to assist in delivering a successful competition for the fourth licence.”

The UKGC is responsible for designing and running the competition to award the next licence, with work undertaken since commencement in November 2018 principally centred around global market engagement.

Neil McArthur, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, commented: “The National Lottery is a national asset. We want to build on the tremendous success of the National Lottery, and we are determined to run a fair and transparent competition process that maximises the opportunities for innovation and creativity whilst protecting the special status of the National Lottery.”

Two appointments have also been made regarding the licence competition, with John Tanner joining the programme as executive director and senior responsible officer and Andrew Wilson named commercial director.

Tanner, who joins from HM Revenue and Customs, is charged with leading the programme and delivering the competition, while Wilson will work with the SRO and the team of advisors to ensure a fair and competitive process for potential bidders.

Tanner, added: “I’m delighted to be leading the team that is working on this vitally important project.  We have already set firm foundations for the competition and I am looking forward to working with prospective bidders, stakeholders and all the members of our team, as we build on those foundations to prepare for the formal launch of the competition at the end of March next year.”

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