Casino operators in the UK were given an indirect warning this week during the speech of Sarah Harrison, chief executive of the UK Gambling Commission (GC), at the World Regulatory Briefing in London.
Harrison’s speech addressed the practices of the UK gambling sector during the past year with a special focus on the funding of responsible gaming policies, during which she hinted that a more vigorous arrangement was to be imposed if things continued in the same direction during the upcoming months.
Her biggest concern was that the voluntary funding of the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) was “nowhere near enough”, pointing out that during last year casino operators spent £120 million on advertising their operations, while only £6.5 million were given to the RGT to be spent on education, research, and treatments of problem gaming.
The head of GC stated that the current situation is “not right” and that some operators were steady contributors while others rode on the back of others’ donations. And judging from her hints, the current scheme of voluntary contribution was to be drastically changed if the situation doesn’t improve.
She informed the general public that she was certain the Responsible Gambling Trust would gladly approve of a more “robust” arrangement – one which would see a more “common approach” agreed upon and systematized by the industry.
According to her, UK operators were now in front of a key chance to either truly commit to the voluntary support of the Trust or be confronted by “stronger calls” for compulsory action.
The primary focus of the RGT is to supervise a research plan and obtain the funds to implement the newly developed National Responsible Gambling Strategy which outlines the agenda for all parties related to gambling and extends over every form of gambling.