British Gambling Commission delivers social gaming review
News on 9 Feb 2015
News on 9 Feb 2015
The British Gambling Commission has published a review of its stance on the social gaming industry and what risks it poses to the public in terms of protection.
The commission consulted with regulators in other jurisdictions where work is already underway on the topic of social gaming, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB) as well as specialists in the social media realm.
A group on social gambling has been formed that include stakeholders such as the Competition & Markets Authority, Committee of Advertising Practice, Ofcom, PhonepayPlus, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Video Standards Council.
This group will share knowledge, learning and research in relation to social gaming as well as creating a channel of awareness into each others’ activities in the area to prevent duplication of resources.
On the Commission’s social gaming stance, it said it had no reason, based on the data it had seen, to move from the “watching brief” stance it has adopted to date and will continue to monitor the issue working closely with RGSB on longer-term transitional-type risks to assess whether social gaming leads to harmful behaviour.
The full text of the review may be accessed at: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/Social-gaming—January-2015.pdf
In related news, the Commission published a series of topics pertaining to remote operators in its latest newsletter.
With regard to a supplementary consultation on customer funds reporting, the Commission is looking for views on the timing and format of the topic to best achieve its aims of monitoring and ensuring compliance for the protection of customers funds which will eventually be incorporated into the Commission’s centralised online system later this year.
The consultation closes on Friday, 13 February 2015 and stakeholders are requested to submit their reply’s before this date.
