Rhodes discussed the efforts undertaken to curb problem gambling by the UK regulatory body in 2021, a year which he claims is “on course to be our busiest year ever”.
He stated that, since 2017/18, the Commission has recovered over £100m ($132.4m) in penalty packages and revoked 10 operator licences, not including those who surrendered their licences before the GC could complete its investigations.
Rhodes also said the regulator is seeing a rise in “recidivist behaviour” — repeat offenders who are starting to see fines as a “compliance tax”.
He emphasised how crucial it is that operators comply with its rules and sympathised with those who do, saying: “It must also be incredibly frustrating for those in the industry who are working hard to comply and to raise standards. It must be unacceptable for them too.”
Furthermore, Rhodes spoke about the “gamblification” of entertainment and warned against social media’s influencing effects.
However, he stressed his wish to not be seen as overly critical and reaffirmed his and the GC’s willingness to collaborate with any party whose goals align with its own.
“Collaboration is going to be key to making faster and better progress. We’ll see this around what is in the White Paper as part of the Gambling Act review,” remarked Rhodes.
“For our part, we will continue to use our regulatory role to build up protections for people, working with stakeholders on how to do that.”
He concluded: “The Gambling Commission remains committed to collaboration. We will work with anyone who shares our views on how we improve things.”
