UK on-course bookmakers catch break after underage betting sting

uk-on-course-bookmakers-underage-betting-warning

uk-on-course-bookmakers-underage-betting-warningThe UK Gambling Commission has shown a rare sense of mercy after letting some on-course bookmakers off the hook for getting stung in the regulator’s underage betting sting.

Last July, the UKGC announced that seven unidentified on-course bookmakers had allowed the regulator’s undercover 16-year-old agent place wagers at the Royal Ascot meet the month before. This January, word leaked that the UKGC planned to impose penalties equal to 2.5% of each of the offending bookies’ annual gross profit.

Psych! On Wednesday, word broke that the bookies had been let off with warnings or ‘advice to conduct’ letters stressing that they needed to up their Age Verification compliance. The small-time bookies had protested that the 2.5% penalty, which in one case would have amounted to £7,600, was vastly disproportionate to their infractions.

The UKGC, which hasn’t been as lenient with other licensees who strayed from the straight and narrow, said it chose to spare the rod in this case due to “the impact of the exceptional commercial challenges and current uncertainty for on-course bookmakers.” However, the regulator warned that it would be watching the sinful seven closely, and future cockups won’t find the UKGC in such a forgiving mood.

GVC’S OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES
In other UKGC news, online gambling operator GVC Holdings has answered the regulator’s call for stricter limits on customer activity during the COVID-19 lockdown, although the pledge isn’t exactly breaking any new ground.

On Wednesday, GVC announced that it would introduce several new responsible gambling controls “in the coming weeks,” including following the UKGC’s recent guidance/demand on halting reverse withdrawal requests – in which a customer is allowed to cancel a withdrawal request in order to keep gambling – until further notice.

GVC also plans to allow customers to set stake limits on online slots, while introducing something it calls ‘curfew setting,’ which presumably sets a time of day after which customers can no longer access GVC’s online products.

Thing is, GVC’s announcement is almost a word-for-word rehash of the ‘additional safer gambling safeguards’ it announced at the end of March following the Betting & Gaming Council’s “10-pledge action plan” to ensure standards are met during the pandemic lockdown. GVC’s March 27 release also claimed the aforementioned tools were coming ‘in the coming weeks,’ which, for the record, was nearly seven weeks ago.

It’s a somewhat sad commentary on the current media climate surrounding gambling in the UK, in which gambling operators wear the blackest of hats and gamblers are babes in swaddling clothes. We must all be seen to be doing something, just not twirling our moustaches and cackling maniacally.