Members of the Gambling Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel have outlined how their experiences are helping shape gambling regulation, research and consumer protection across Great Britain.
Members of the Gambling Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) have highlighted the growing influence of lived experience in shaping gambling regulation, consumer protection and research across Great Britain.
Speaking on the latest episode of the regulator’s Inside the Commission podcast, outgoing co-chair Susan Cox and incoming chair Matt Gaskell reflected on the panel’s work and its role in informing policy, research and industry engagement.
Never unknowingly bigging themselves up, LEAP is clearly cut from the same jib as the rest of the regulatory groups, with the Commission’s Cox, who has served on LEAP for six years, stating the panel had made “a significant contribution”.
Citing its work on the Gambling Act Review White Paper the group now regularly provides feedback on research projects, policy proposals and work relating to the unlicensed gambling market.
Discussing the panel’s relationship with operators, Cox said: “We want to make it fair. We want to make it safe.”
Quite how given the febrile and hostile position of many of the lived experience groups is not so clear. And Cox went on the defence to prove just that. She added that LEAP members were “not on a crusade” against gambling but instead sought to work collaboratively with the industry to reduce gambling-related harm.
Unfortunately that is not the case with the £12m budget handed over to xx which has made it an explicit rule that charities will not work with the industry. Furthermore, several lived experience charities have been accused and reported to the Commission for threatening other charities over funding if they work with the industry.
These were not issues the exiting Cox touched up.
Neither did incoming chair Matt Gaskell who wanted to focus on emerging issues including the illegal gambling market, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and gambling-adjacent products – these would remain priorities for the panel.
Quite what knowledge the Lived Experience Panel has on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence is baffling – it almost certainly has less than anyone at the Gambling Commission. And as we all know, the Commission knows absolutely nothing on these issues at all.
And those industries that do – well, the Lived Experience groups want nothing to do with them. So square that circle?
“We’ve got to keep pace with these evolving climates,” Gaskill responded. “We can’t turn a blind eye to it because it could go boom and then we’ve got an even bigger problem.”
So deep, so profound; it’s an intellectual quality that has many a LEAP to make just to make any sense.
The discussion also highlighted the importance of ensuring future LEAP membership reflects a broad range of lived experiences, including younger people, women and those affected by someone else’s gambling.
As well intentioned as LEAP is, it’s more parish council prattle than productive, meaningful discourse.
Get the industry into the debate and then we can start listening to some serious sensible commentary from the Commission rather than this kindergarden crap.
A LEAP in the dark…
Matt Gaskell said… “We’ve got to keep pace with these evolving climates. We can’t turn a blind eye to it because it could go boom and then we’ve got an even bigger problem…
