Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes reiterated calls for collaboration between the industry and the regulator at this year’s CEO Briefing, highlighting the Commission’s obligation to aim to permit and provide effective data, while acknowledging questions over the future of funding for the body.
Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes took pains to reiterate the regulator’s remit during this year’s CEO Briefing, telling assembled executives “people overstate the role that we have,” as the body faces its own questions about future funding.
Addressing several major shifts in the gambling landscape, including the rise of cryptocurrency and social lotteries, Rhodes told attendees at the 6 November event how he intended to ensure the regulator remains responsive but consistent.
“To be crystal clear, our remit is unchanged,” said Rhodes. “If you think about the role of the Gambling Commission, sometimes people overstate the role that we have. Policy is set by Government. We work within the confines of the Act that we’ve been given and the policy that we’ve been given and that’s our job.”
Few if any in the industry would agree with that perception; indeed, the biggest criticism of the regulator from every sector is that it constantly overreaches its authority and aggressively expands its territorial grab through additional red tape and bureaucracy.
Rhodes sees that differently. He continued:“Our obligation is to aim to permit gambling, providing it’s in line with the licencing objectives and that’s what we will continue to do. But we recognise that the moment there is a lively debate and where we can we are providing the evidence to try and properly inform that debate.”
Having invested substantial part of its reserves in 2022 into researching the illegal market – the conclusion of which it unveiled last week as unreliable to determine, Rhodes still celebrated the Commission’s research which led directly to a 300 percent increase in the number of criminal cases taken forward since 2023.
But one comment that will alarm the industry, Rhodes added that the regulator is now awaiting the outcome of a fee review later this year in order to assess whether it can continue to invest at the same scale going forward.
“Just as there is a very active debate about taxation and the sector at the moment, there is also a very active debate about the role of regulators and Arms Length Bodies and to what extent we stand between you and growth and to what extent we ensure a level playing field, which will no doubt be a consideration for the Government as it considers the Commission’s future programme.”
This remains a moot point in the industry; there was no reference to the Commission’s response to the government request for an update on how it is enabling growth within the industry it regulates. And for good reason, the CEOs would suspect. The Commission, most argue, has no intention of facilitating growth.
In his speech, Rhodes also addressed the importance of operator due diligence in choosing B2B partners, while urging continued dialogue between the industry and the regulator.
Finishing on a high note, Rhodes closed out the meeting with an invitation: “One of the things I note from events like this is you read a series of articles and blogs and everything else, trying to interpret what was meant by a certain phrase or a certain thing. Just come and ask us. Talk to us. We waste so much time trying to reinterpret things when we could just have a conversation.”
Here you go then: why haven’t you applied all the OSR and assessor recommendations to the GSGB survey? Why aren’t you making your gambling related suicide data available? Why have you heavily redacted most of the Industry Forum minutes? Why have you not released financial information on the Levy funds yet?
There’s plenty more!
Regulatory remit
Andrew Rhodes said… “If you think about the role of the Gambling Commission, sometimes people overstate the role that we have. Policy is set by Government. We work within the confines of the Act that we’ve been given and the policy that we’ve been given and that’s our job…
