GBGC launches consultation on LCCP reporting changes

The British Gambling Commission has launched a consultation on potential changes to the licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP) which all licensees must adhere to, mostly to change the ways in which licensees must report key events to the regulator.

The consultation opened on 26 February and will last until 20 May. In total, the Commission has proposed changes to 17 different articles of the LCCP.

The changes would remove the phrase “Ensure that the Commission is provided [with information]” concerning possible offences under the 2005 Gambling Act or breaches of the LCCP.

This, the regulator said, was intended to reinforce the fact that, “responsibility for meeting the licence condition rests with licensees, not third parties”.

In addition, a new licence condition was introduced, which requires licensees to report any cases of organised money lending they are aware of.

Licensees would no longer be required to make the Commission aware of investment, which is not by way of subscription for shares, but now would be required to tell the Commission if a figure in a senior position at the licensee takes on a different senior position at the same company.

As well as this, those who hold a licence would no longer be required to notify the regulator of the receipt of reports of the outcome of compliance assessments from regulatory or government bodies.

The changes would also add a new licence condition specifying that licensees must notify the Commission of any actual or potential breaches of  Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds regulations.

Personal licence holders will have the period of time in which they must report key events extended.

The regulator would also shorten the reporting period to annual returns to within 28 days of the end of the financial year, creating a deadline of 28 April, rather than 42 days.

In addition, the LLCP would be amended so that customers placing such bets must not be in breach of any rules on betting or misuse of inside information, as opposed to simply rules about irregular or suspicious betting. 

The changes would also introduce standardised formats for reporting of suspicious betting activity, which the Commission said it hoped would, “improve efficiency in data collection.” 

Under the changes, the Commission would also no longer require operators to notify the Commission about persons they have authorised to offer pool betting in racing or football.

The section concerning the reporting of key financial events such as winding-up orders and bankruptcy was also amended, but only to list all of these events more briefly.

The social responsibility code would be amended to allow the Commission to specify the form and manner in which results of inspections involving underage gambling are provided to the Commission.

The Commission’s proposals also included changes to regulatory returns and collection of statistics. The regulator says it will collect less data overall, but more that deals with the prevention of fambling-related harm.

“We also intend to introduce new datapoints that place a greater focus on our commitment towards consumers and the prevention of gambling-related harms, and to implement several changes focused on improving data quality,” the Commission said.

The Commission would no longer ask for non-GB data to be broken down by sport and game category, for the number of gaming machines sold or gambling software data to be reported by title. The regulator said it also hopes to publish Industry Statistics within 6 months of the end of the reporting period, as opposed to seven to eight months.

Stakeholders will be able to provide their input on any or all of the proposed changes. When the consultation closes, the Commission will publish one or more consultation response documents within three months.

Any changes to the LCCP as a result of this consultation will most likely take place in October 2020. The Commission will provide licence holders with at least three months’ notice before LCCP changes come into force.