Category: Woods Whur

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Is a Review of the Gambling Act 2005 likely?

The Gambling Act 2005, which came into force on 1 September 2007, made significant changes to the legislation which governs betting and gaming in the UK.  It is easy to forget that were it not for a last minute deal relating to certain parts of that legislation,  Tessa Jowell would not have been able to get the proposed changes through Parliament. There is no doubt that the changes introduced by the Gambling Act 2005 have had a major impact on gambling in the UK but even though it is only 15 years old it is now being argued that it is already out of date.

The view of most experts following the introduction of the Act in 2007 , was that most political parties would be likely to leave the legislation untouched, principally because there was no real political benefit to any of the parties trying to implement any changes.  It was felt that there would be criticism either from the anti-gambling bodies or from the gambling industry  no matter what changes were made.

The 2019 election appears to have changed all of that.  The Conservatives pledged in their manifesto to conduct a review of the 2005 Gambling Act and this followed similar commitments from the Liberal Democrat and the Labour Party. The Conservative Party promised to “make the UK the safest place in the world to be online”.  The general view appears to be that the Gambling Act 2005 is no longer fit for purpose and that the innovations brought in by the industry during the last 15 years  have far outstripped the ability of the Gambling Act 2005 to be an effective piece of legislation. There were particular concerns expressed with regard to problem gamblers not being protected by the Industry, credit card use, loot boxes and a general lack of social responsibility on behalf of the industry.

There have already been some minor changes introduced as credit card gambling is not permitted from the 14th April 2020 other than by non-remote lottery players and the Gambling Commission are undergoing further consultations as this article is being published. Concerns over gambling addiction and the lack of protection for gambling addicts, coupled with an increasing concern about “affordability of gambling” has already been well documented in the press during the last two years.

The Gambling Commission itself has significantly increased the amount of regulatory inspections it carries out and the amount of regulatory cases which are being brought against operators, principally for not complying with anti-money laundering legislation or social responsibility guidelines.  You only have to look at the Gambling Commission website to see the extent of the recent cases and the financial penalties which have been imposed.  Whilst on the one hand the industry argues that AML and SR policies and procedures are constantly evolving to meet the needs of society and the challenges set by the Gambling Commission, it does appear that the Gambling Commission is wholly dissatisfied with the AML and SR policies and procedures operated by the industry in general.

It seems to me that we are quite clearly at the stage now where there is the political will to make changes to the legislation, and that whilst it might not be the most pressing piece of legislation that the Government deals with in 2020 and whilst we may not see the widespread changes that many would like to see, it is clear that there will be a thorough review and changes to the Gambling Act 2005 sometime in the near future.

Those changes will include:

  • A potential ban of certain advertising by gambling companies and new restrictions placed on advertising.  Whether this extends to football clubs and advertising at football grounds is a debateable point.  The Premier League has already stated that it will oppose any blanket ban on gambling advertising, either on shirts or at the grounds, and yet there is growing lobby of those who would like to see this.
  • Increased social responsibility and affordability guidelines and regulations. This may change the overall principle from:

(1) “Does this customer have a gambling problem in any form / are we okay to allow this customer to gamble”; to

(2) “Does this customer have a gambling addition, are we okay to allow this customer to play, can this customer afford to play, how will the customer spend impact on the customer’s finances and how will this impact on other family members etc.”

  • AML and KYC checks will be tightened. The extent of due diligence information which casinos and online operators in particular need to have on those customer who play to a certain limit is already well detailed, but it is likely to see this source of information (enhanced due diligence) extended further.
  • Gambling to be seen as a public health issue, which brings into question, the role of any public health body during the course of any consultation/review.
  • A potential levy from problem gambling funding with gambling addiction being treated in the same way as drug and alcohol addiction.
  • An increase in regulations governing on line gambling
  • Source of funding and source of wealth and the information required in respect of both of these will also be extended.

All of the above is on the back of increased scrutiny by the Gambling Commission, the limit on fixed odd betting terminals being reduced to £2 and the credit card ban on all gambling with the exception of non-remote lotteries.

The majority of national operators have already been through the process of a regulatory review and in some cases, on more one occasion and in many cases, leading to significant financial penalty.  It has just been reported at the start of the February that the Commission has handed out large fines to seven bookmakers for allowing under 18s to place bets on a course and a further reviews with other operators are likely in 2020.

All of the above is of course dependent on the Government have sufficient time in Parliament to implement new legislation.  Gambling Commission guidelines and regulations can be changed without primary legislation so there will be a tightening of controls over gambling operators, irrespective of any decision to change primary legislation and it is absolutely essential that operators keep up to date with any changes to these guidelines and regulations during what will be a challenging time for operators.

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Gambling Commission partner with Twitter to issue Guidance on how to regulate content

The Gambling Commission has partnered with Twitter to create guidance aimed at supporting users who want to limit the amount of gambling-related content they see on the social media platform. The guidance explains the different ways in which Twitter’s safety tools and settings can be adjusted within an individual account, to help mitigate the risk of exposure to gambling-related messaging and advertisements. This year the Gambling Commission is also looking to produce similar guidance for users of other social media platforms. Twitter is the first to work with the Gambling Commission on this initiative.

In the guidance you are shown how you can control on various levels:

  • Manage ‘interests’ within a profile; interests are comprised of a list of keywords, associated to an individual’s Twitter activity.
  • Turn off notifications; this prevents the user from receiving notifications from certain types of accounts they’d like to avoid (such as a sports account).
  • Use the mute feature; this enables a user to have greater control over what they can and can’t see on Twitter by ensuring certain words, accounts and conversations are no longer visible.

In October 2019 the Commission’s chief executive Neil McArthur raised his concerns to the gambling industry around the exposure of gambling adverts to children, young people and vulnerable adults. He has encouraged gambling businesses to embrace advertising technology and be more socially responsible.

“This level of exposure is a concern and I have challenged the industry to quickly accelerate opportunities to reduce the amount of advertising seen by young people, children and vulnerable adults across all digital platforms. Whilst we work on a plan which sets out new standards for how the industry will embrace advertising technology, I hope that this guidance will play a role in helping consumers to limit the gambling-related content they see on Twitter.”

Katy Minshall, Head of UK Public Policy at Twitter, said: “Improving the health of the public conversation is our overall mission as is ensuring those on the service feel safe and supported. With that in mind, we’re continuing to enforce our policies, specifically around prohibited and restricted ad content as well as assessing the eligibility of ads on our service – these policies apply to all advertisers and advertisements on Twitter.”

This is another example of how the Commission is upping the ante with regards to advertisements/publishing of gambling specific offers and exposure to gambling on social media.

Click on the following link to download the guidance document  https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Twitter-consumer-guide.pdf

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Business as Usual?

Our departure from the EU slipped by at 11pm last Friday without any noticeable change to our daily lives!

In fact, a number of government organisations were very quick to tell me by email on Saturday morning that definitely nothing had changed in terms of regulatory compliance!

The Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency and a clutch of other government departments/agencies have been busy telling me this and I’m sure any hopes and dreams of us leaving behind any dreaded EU directives and regulations are a little premature!

The duties that you have to discharge from a regulatory view point created by EU directives & regulations are still unaltered and are still requiring your attention and compliance.

Of course, over this year we will see the fruit or not of the government’s negotiations with the EU and the position may change.

That said, I would be prepared that the status quo will remain and where EU law has been adopted into domestic legislation –  don’t expect a bonfire of EU legislation.

Where I see a divergence from EU legislation will be achieved a little more subtly and over a longer period of time. We now have the possible advantage to choose what pieces of EU legislation from a regulatory view point are appropriate and potentially adopt them into UK legislation or discard them and adopt our solutions to particular regulatory issues.

For me, this is a welcome potential development. The ability for us to choose legislation which is relevant in particular to the situation prevailing at the time in the UK, rather than trying to adopt EU legislation which may be particularly specific and easy to comply with in some countries in the EU, but not necessarily the UK.

I am currently concluding a lengthy and time consuming case for a client who has been objecting to complying with some environmental legislation adopted from Europe, which is wholly inappropriate in the context of the client’s operations in the UK.

In an ideal future, I would like to think that Parliament would have created legislation which is tailored to our needs in the UK and prevent the costs and wasted time in trying to adopt legislation designed to generically apply to all the member states rather than specifically to one.

Unfortunately, only time will tell if we ultimately end up with regulatory systems which do this – fingers crossed that we do!

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Julian Skeens joins Woods Whur as a consultant

We have long admired Julian and been great friends on the circuit, so we were delighted that he wanted to join us and further assist our expansion in the London and South. After Luke Elford, who Julian worked with previously, joined us last year this further strengthens our London focus.

Julian has over 30 years’ experience in delivering licensing successes across the UK and advises a broad range of prestigious clients, including pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, galleries, theatres, and hotels.
For the past 32 years Julian has been consistently recognised by his peers as an expert in the field of licensing in Chambers and Partners UK and Legal 500 UK. He is known by his competitors as a “creative thinker” and a “formidable opponent” he leaves no stone unturned in his relentless pursuit of his clients’ interests.

“I am delighted to be joining Woods Whur. I believe that their commercially focused and pragmatic advice fits closely with my own personal approach and allows me the opportunity to provide the competitive advantages I like to offer clients. Paddy and Andy are at the top of the tree right now so it is exciting to be involved with their practice. It is also particularly pleasing for me to work with Luke again, he is already a great  lawyer, but also a personal friend. This gives us the right environment to further grow the firm’s enviable representation in the vibrant London market.”

“We are all pleased that Julian has joined us. Andy and I have known Julian for the whole of our professional careers and respected his advocacy skills, client list and desire to take on even the most difficult of cases. Andy and I were already undertaking some fabulous work in the South and London in particular, and Julian joining us to link in with Luke really sets the agenda for exciting growth.”

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Stress in the workplace – Criteria released for work-related stress investigations

At the regulatory seminar back in September (where does the time go!) we discussed stress in the workplace and the potential impacts and difficulties companies faced in monitoring a non-tangible health and safety issue.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have now released guidance on how it, as a regulator, investigates stress where there is evidence of a wider organisational failing but does not investigate concerns relating to individual cases of bullying or harassment.

The guidance issued indicates that organisations are taking mental wellbeing seriously and it is reassuring that they recognise mental wellbeing as an important factor in employee’s health in accordance with the law and their duties as an employer

Stress is not reportable under RIDDOR as a notifiable incident/concern. Only where key wider failings are identified is when stress in the workplace becomes relevant for the HSE to perhaps investigate, intervene, and take action.

This comes at a time where a recent survey has indicated that 6 in 10 construction workers suffer work-related mental ill health. The recent health and safety statistics also show a breakdown of work related stress, depression, anxiety figures which explain why the HSE are releasing further guidance on the topic for employers.

In any event, having a system in place which identifies how employees may experience stress, either through their employment or otherwise, whilst in the workplace is important for organisations to deal with not only issues with bullying and harassment for equality reasons, but the wider health and safety remit.

We have now seen the introduction of mental health first aiders within many different sectors to provide a point of contact not only for physical health, but also for mental health. This is one of many introductions that companies may wish to consider.

The issue here is how to actually quantify the problem and then deal with it. It is certainly difficult to devise a system that works for all employees therefore experience has shown behand a general policy for addressing stress – there must be a flexible approach by HR, line managers etc. to implement the policy in specific ways to the individual employee. That individual approach needs to be documented and that individual ‘plans’ need to be considered also as a whole to identify trends and particular organisation wide issues – so they can be addressed.

This approach is useful not only not only in the area or health and safety compliance, but also provides good evidence if you face a personal injury claim from employees for stress!

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What impact could the Commission on Alcohol Harm have on the alcohol industry in the coming months.

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), a group of 50 non-governmental organisations who work in cooperation to promote evidence-based policies to reduce the harm caused by alcohol, have announced their support for a new Commission on Alcohol Harm, chaired by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff. (https://ahauk.org/)

The AHA was launched in 2007 and is chaired by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, a leading professor of hepatology and special advisor on alcohol to the Royal College of Physicians. The AHA stresses that they do not have a view on drinking but campaigns for evidence-based policies to tackle the harms caused by alcohol, not for prohibition. They highlight that they are independent of the alcohol industry but work to:

  • highlight the rising levels of alcohol-related harm
  • propose evidence-based solutions to reduce this harm
  • influence decision-makers to take positive action to address the harm caused by alcohol

The Commission on Alcohol harm has been established to:

“examine the current evidence on alcohol harm, recent trends in alcohol harm and the changes needed to reduce the harm caused by alcohol…..[and] the need for a new comprehensive alcohol strategy for England, which takes account of the strategies in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and considers UK-wide priorities in areas where policy is not devolved.”

The Commission will hold three oral evidence sessions in early 2020 and has launched a call for written evidence, with submissions welcomed before the deadline of 12.00 noon on 17 February 2020.

The Commission on Alcohol Harm welcomes written submissions addressing one or more of the following questions:

  • What evidence has emerged since 2012 on alcohol’s impact on:

        -Physical health?

        -Mental health?

  • What impact does alcohol have on the NHS and other public services?
  • What challenges do alcohol treatment services currently face in supporting people impacted by alcohol harm?
  • What recent evidence is there of impacts caused by alcohol consumption on family life, relationships and sexual behaviour?
  • What data exists to show alcohol’s current impact on different demographic groups, including age, sex and social class?
  • What impact does alcohol have on economic productivity and is there evidence of this changing since 2012?
  • What current evidence is there of links between alcohol and violent behaviour and other crime?
  • What recent evidence is there of links between alcohol and other addictive behaviours (such as smoking, drug use and gambling)?
  • What effect does the current approach to alcohol marketing and licensing have on alcohol harm?
  • What policy changes would help to reduce the level of harm caused by alcohol? Are there policy responses from other governments (including within the UK) that have been successful in reducing harms caused by alcohol that could be implemented in the UK?

Written evidence should be submitted as a single Microsoft Word document attached to an email and state clearly who the submission is from, and whether it is sent in a personal capacity or on behalf of an organisation. They should be no more than 2,500 words in length and provide references when citing evidence from other sources.

Written evidence received by the Commission on Alcohol Harm will form the basis for the final report and can be submitted at harms_commission@ahauk.org

We will continue to report on the progress of the commission and the recommendations it ultimately makes.

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London Borough of Southwark consulting on statement of licensing policy.

The London Borough of Southwark is reviewing its alcohol licensing policy and is looking for feedback from residents and businesses on the changes it proposes to make.

The policy sets out how the council will make decisions on premises licences, how premises are likely to be permitted to operate, and how the needs of residents and businesses will be addressed within the context of the licensing regime.

The council have to consult on their licensing policy every five years. The current consultation follows a “mid-term” review which was carried out last year.

The consultation runs until 1 March 2020 and a copy of the draft policy can be downloaded from the council’s website. It is anticipated that the new policy will come into effect on 11 January 2021.

Any operators with interests in Southwark are strongly encouraged to submit a response to the ongoing consultation before the deadline. If you would like assistance with submitting a response then we are happy to help.

Southwark won’t be the only council consulting on their licensing policy in the not too distant future. Many licensing policies are due for review in 2020 and 2021 and it is important to feed into those. We will be feeding back on behalf of a number of clients and we suggest you do the same.

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Gambling Commission announces that all online operators to use GAMSTOP incentive

This will allow self-exclusion to be monitored by operators much more effectively and ensure that its policies reflect this change.

Gamstop has been developed for the online sector and will make it simpler for not only operators but also consumers. A lot of operators already use Gamstop but this change by the Gambling Commission makes it compulsory for all operators to use the same system to ensure consistency throughout with the objective of protecting consumers against harm associated with gambling.

Neil McCarthur, Gambling Commission Chief Executive, says: “Operators must do everything they can to minimise the risk of gambling related harm. That is why we expect the industry to create safe products, know their customers, understand what they can afford to gamble with and identify when they are experiencing harm and step in.”

This is a clear message from the Gambling Commission regarding socially responsible expectations in particular relating to harm caused by gambling.

If you would like to discuss these changes with the team please do not hesitate to contact Andy Woods or Sarah Frow on sfrow@www.woodswhur.co.uk or 0113 234 3055.

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Credit Cards banned by the Gambling Commission for use with gambling

We have previously written about the various Gambling Commission consultations and encourage operators to often look to see the current consultations for a number of reasons, mainly to determine whether a response to the consultation may be beneficial for them and to assist the Gambling Commission.

Between August and November 2019, there was an open consultation looking into the use of credit cards and the harm it caused to those who gamble. Following this consultation, the Gambling Commission have now announced that they are to ban the use of credit cards for all gambling operators aside from non-remote lotteries.

The ban applies to all online and offline gambling products with the exception of non-remote lotteries. The intention behind not banning credit cards for non-remote lotteries are as a result of them often forming part of a wider retail purchase i.e. with food and drinks therefore those operators that offer both remote and non-remote lotteries will need to review how this is provided.

Although the ban is not altogether a surprise following the consultation, there will be operators that are understandably concerned with how to ensure smooth transition with these changes by April 14 2020. It has widely been reported already that some large online betting operators have seen a fall in its share price as a result of this so change management is key here.

Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive, said: “We realise this change will inconvenience those consumers who use credit cards responsibly but we are satisfied that reducing the risk of harm to other consumers means that action must be taken.”

This is a huge change to the industry and it has been indicated that this is part of a wider effort concerning the harm associated with gambling and efforts are being made to tackle this. We anticipate similar consultations and debates surrounding the harm caused by gambling and what can be done by regulators to tackle this.

The Culture Minister, Helen Whately, said: “There is clear evidence of harm from consumers betting with money they do not have, so it is absolutely right that we act decisively to protect them.” This continues down the theme of being socially responsible and the harm caused by gambling.

If you would like to discuss this with one of the team please do not hesitate to contact Andy or Sarah on sfrow@www.woodswhur.co.uk or 0113 234 3055.

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Risk free New Year?

‘New Year, new me’ is often a phrase used at we turn our attention to the New Year and reflect on the one that has just passed us.

This applies just as much to businesses as it does to your personal attitude. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest that risk assessments should be reviewed on an ‘ongoing basis’. Often an annual check is sensible for many businesses.

The purpose of reviewing risk assessments is essential to determine whether there have been any changes to the business activities which may, in turn, affect the risks associated with particular tasks/premises/individuals. It is essential that your risk assessments reflect the current conditions and they have not just been left to gather dust!

In particular, the HSE suggests you should look at your risk assessment and ask:

  • Have there been any significant changes?
  • Are there improvements you still need to make?
  • Have your workers spotted a problem?
  • Have you learnt anything from accidents, near misses, work-related ill-health (physical and mental) reports, sickness absence data or employee surveys?

It’s a worthwhile task to set you up on the annual January task-list of broader business compliance from a health and safety perspective. If you don’t review it now when are you going to find time to do it?

If you have any regulatory questions please do contact Sarah or James on sfrow@www.woodswhur.co.uk and james@www.woodswhur.co.uk or telephone the office on 01132343055.