British Gambling Commission revises LCCP

Social responsibility revisions to the British Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) were published this week.

The revisions follow a 2014 review and target the improved protection of players against problem gambling within the land-based and online sectors.

New social responsibility requirements affecting online and retail operators include significantly strengthening licensing conditions and codes of practice.

Other requirements cover socially responsible marketing and advertising, the LCCP highlighting that the marketing of “free bet” offers be open, transparent and not misleading.

Retail operators are bound to a national “one click” self-exclusion facility to be implemented by 6 April 2016, a similar facility for the online sector is targeted for implementation during 2017.

Online operators will have to provide players with a ‘time-out’ facility enabling them to take a break from gambling by 31 October 2015. Players must also be offered a timed on-screen check enabling them to review their spend and the time spent gambling during the session.

Major operators are required to set out specific steps they are taking to minimise harm from gambling, how they assess their effectiveness and their plans for improvement over the coming year against which progress can be judged, the Commission said.

Furthermore, the Commission is calling for public debate on removing the anonymity of cash gambling on land-based machines saying “…we have reached the point at which it is clear that much more could be achieved if anonymous gambling in cash was not such a prominent feature of land-based gambling,” Philip Graf, chair of the British Gambling Commission said. “Removing anonymity of course raises its own challenges.”

The revised LCCP can be accessed here: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/pdf/Latest-LCCP-and-Extracts/Licence-conditions-and-codes-of-practice.pdf