UKGC hands down new player safety regulations

UK Gambling Commission has introduced new measures to protect players, following a review conducted last year.

A series of new social responsibility measures have been drawn up by the Commission, including schemes which will allow customers to make a single request to self-exclude from all operators of a similar type within their area.

Online operators will be required to provide time-out facilities and larger operators must carry out test purchasing to ensure that they are preventing underage gambling.

The changes to the Licensing Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) will come into force on 8 May and operators that fail to comply may have their licences revoked.

The Commission has also called for a debate as to whether to continue with the current policy that allows customers to use cash-based gaming machines anonymously.

Commission chair Phillip Graf said: “The work we have done through the review represents a significant strengthening of the social responsibility measures in the LCCP, but we have reached the point at which it is clear that much more could be achieved if anonymous gambling in cash was not such a prominent feature of land-based gambling.

"Removing anonymity of course raises its own challenges and it is time for a proper public debate on the costs and benefits of doing so.”

The new measures follow the launch of the Senet Group last month, the self-regulatory body made up of bookmakers William Hill, Coral, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, who have each dedicated 20% of shop window advertising to responsible gambling messages.