The Gambling Commission (GC) has released a blog on using operator data.
The blog post was created by Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics at the Commission, and covers the way the institution has used different data points throughout 2023.
As part of the changes initiated this year in the industry, one of the main points was using operator data to fill gaps in knowledge about players who gamble, both online and in land-based facilities.
This was part of the ‘Evidence gaps and priorities 2023 to 2026’ publication that was released in May and also mentioned in the White Paper.
Haden explained: “We think data like this will really help us understand the impact of policy changes, in particular as a result of the Gambling Act Review.
“When we evaluate, we want to be able to get early indications of impact, where we may need to take different action as a result.
“It may also mean less ad-hoc requests from operators in relation to each change.”
The first thing that the GC will do is amend the regulatory returns for operators.
This will include removing a number of items from the licence process, as they have been deemed outdated, but also increase the frequency of the reports themselves.
As part of this, more detailed reports from operators, such as daily aggregated consumer data, will be piloted.
Hayden continued: “When we start to triangulate this with our consumer surveys and other available datasets we will have much more informed perspective overall.
“These two projects are just the start of looking to extract more value from operator data, as well as other datasets but it’s an exciting part of our drive to use the best evidence we can in our work.
“And better evidence driven by better data, will lead to better regulation.”
This was also something that CEO Andrew Rhodes discussed in his speech at the most recent GambleAware event.
Rhodes explained that better data leads to better statistics, which can lead to improved regulation and outcomes for everyone involved.
