The UK’s gambling regulator is enhancing its’ ‘consumer first’ focus by partnering with an online support tool through which gamblers can submit complaints to gambling operators.
On Monday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) announced that, as of August 1, gamblers will be able to use Resolver, an online support tool for aggrieved consumers of all stripes. The UKGC worked with Resolver’s developers to ensure they understood gambling-related issues but the tool remains entirely independent of the regulator.
Resolver provides complainants with explanations of their consumer rights, creates a case file that enables them to store all their complaint information in a single location and acts as an email service, meaning operators will receive the complaint from a Resolver email address, not the customer’s personal email. The UKGC stresses that it expects its licensees to accept complaints sent via Resolver.
The UKGC stresses that Resolver isn’t an intermediary and doesn’t act on the consumer’s behalf, but the hope is that providing a more cohesive structure for complaints will provide both consumers and gambling operators with a more efficient mechanism for dispute resolution. There is no charge to use Resolver.
Resolver’s FAQ attempts to reassure businesses that, just because customers have access to a complaint-submitting service, that doesn’t mean businesses will automatically face more complaints. Resolver claims that around 25% of consumers neglect to proceed with a complaint once they more accurately understand the extent and limitation of their rights.
The UKGC has been taking a more hands-on approach of late to ensuring its gambling licensees don’t take unwarranted liberties with their customers. Earlier this month, the UKGC unveiled its new regulatory enforcement strategy and warned its licensees that failure to put consumers first would result in them facing the regulator’s “full range of enforcement powers.”
