Tim Miller Invites Global Gambling Regulators to Collaborate in Reducing Illegal Gambling
Tim Miller, Executive Director of the GB Gambling Commission, spoke at the Global Gaming Expo on October 10. His main point of discussion was the urge for collaboration between regulators from all over the world.
Collaboration is required, as Miller claims, because the customers need to feel safe, and illegal gambling has to be reduced in all markets in the world.
Gambling Act Review:
In the white paper, which was released in April, Gambling Act Review, customer protection was the main point. If the regulators join forces and create pressure on big tech companies, banks, and gambling markets overall, Miller believes that illegal activities can be reduced.
When the British government published the Review, they focused on making gambling free of crime and safer for all gamblers. It contains more than 60 recommendations on how to achieve that goal, and the consultations began in July this year. The last discussion is scheduled for October 18.
The parties discussed the financial risks, design, direct marketing, and age verification in land-based objects.
At the moment, the regulations depend on the market, so the same operator with the same policies can be legal in one market while prohibited from operating in another, and regulators usually don’t know much about the practices in other regulated markets – which have to change.
Miller stated that the Commission has great success when it comes to collaboration with industry tools and services and that they have done a lot to prevent illegal gambling.
Successes of the Commission:
According to the source, the Commission partnered with payment providers, internet search providers, and various developers, and it led to a 46% decrease in traffic for the biggest names in the illegal gambling sector in the British market. For Miller, it’s another proof that collaboration is a key part of success.
He mentioned other actions, including the largest enforcement actions the Commission ever had, when Entain and William Hill were brought down. At the moment, the Commission was in charge of 85% of enforcement in the whole world.
He highlighted that he didn’t want to brag about it but to state that enforcement is a huge industry problem. However, the nature of the issue shows that the regulators must work together in order to get the results since the problem is on a global level.
He added: “As more North American jurisdictions open up to online gambling or sports betting, we see more and more large British or European operators looking to establish themselves here, in your markets. And that’s why we think international collaboration is so vital between gambling regulators. Increasingly we regulate the same companies; we address the same risks; we face the same challenges.We are also close to concluding a number of Memoranda of Understanding with US regulators in order to establish clear working relationships that will support all of us to be more effective.”