A senior official at the UK’s betting and gaming regulator, Tim Miller, has praised the contribution the financial services sector has made to problem gambling prevention.
Speaking at the launch of the Gambling Harms Action Lab on 5 November, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) Executive Director cited data sharing as a common talking point, as well as gambling blocks as significant tools.
“The growing involvement of financial services firms has helped strengthen our collective efforts to address gambling harms,” he said.
“The growing involvement of financial services firms has helped strengthen our collective efforts to address gambling harms. For example, the self-exclusion schemes that gambling companies are required to provide can absolutely help protect consumers.
“But if on top of that tool you layer the gambling blocks than some banks have introduced, the consumers have access to a much stronger toolkit of protective measures.”
Gambling, payments and a regulatory overhaul
The UK gambling sector has been at a regulatory crossroads for some time, with the government launching a review into the continued appropriateness of the 2005 Gambling Act review in today’s highly digital landscape, starting back in December 2020.
As a key partner of the sector due to facilitating payments and handling business accounts for betting firms, the financial services sector is a key stakeholder in all this. Fintech firms active within the sector also service gambling with paytech products, like Open Banking services.
Throughout the review, the UKGC encouraged gambling to take a leaf out of finance’s book regarding data sharing. More data sharing is critical to the UKGC’s vision of a ‘single customer view’ (SCV), whereby various operators will be able to have an overview of their customers and spending habits.
Miller emphasised that the UKGC has been investing “a lot of time and resource in collecting data and producing research to help us better understand the drivers and markets of gambling harm”.
“We recently launched the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, the largest of its kind anywhere in the world, to help build that knowledge base,” he continued.
“However, no one set of data will give you a definitive view or a complete understanding. You need a range of perspectives to truly understand the complexities of gambling harms.
“Financial services providing access to their anonymised consumer data has allowed us to work with Warwick Business School to start building that much richer understanding of how harms develop and how they can be addressed.”
The regulator is not the only party with a vested interest in problem gambling to comment on the financial service sector’s contribution this week. Gamcare, operator of the UK national gambling helpline and a general treatment service provider, announced the conclusion of a workshop yesterday.
Like the UKGC, the charity encourages analysis of transactional data and payment blocks to prevent problem gambling. It has previously commented on how banks should be wary of people using business accounts to make gambling payments, potentially bypassing either the bank’s own blocks or operator deposit limits.
Though speaking positively about the financial services sector’s efforts, the UKGC is encouraging further engagement. The regulator sees emerging fintech solutions as having a big role to play in problem gambling prevention, with Open Banking underpinning the Gambling Act review measure of ‘finance risk checks’.
Miller concluded: “To work collaboratively to find creative ways of better protecting gambling consumers, consumers who are also your customers.” So please do not miss your chance to help make gambling safer.”
