Corporate Strategy 2024 to 2027
The corporate strategy highlights the most important work we intend to deliver over the next three years.
Foreword
Gambling consumers, the wider public and our licensees have a common interest in a gambling industry which is fair, safe and free from crime.
The way people gamble continues to evolve. People gamble in different ways, on different products and with different regularity. The global pandemic impacted the way people gambled and as a result our approach to regulation. Using comparable surveys, fewer people report gambling regularly now compared to before the pandemic, but consumers are collectively spending more money gambling than in 2019.
Below these headline trends, consumer behaviour and the individual commercial performance and drivers of our licensees differ. More people than ever before now gamble online rather than in person. An increasing proportion of consumers play higher risk products, and fewer use cash as a method of payment. In response, the gambling industry in Great Britain continues to evolve based on changes in consumer behaviour and changes to regulation. Licensees also continue to seek to influence consumer behaviour through product innovation and adapting their business models. Mergers and acquisitions have changed the structure of the industry, the scale of the largest businesses and their global footprint.
Throughout the pandemic we demonstrated our ability to react quickly and flexibly to unexpected and changing circumstances. We must retain that agility to keep pace with the industry and continue to improve our regulation for the benefit of consumers and the public.
The accelerating development of new technologies, increasing globalisation of gambling business models and the significant reforms to the regulation of gambling make this a transformative period for the industry. In this strategy we are committing to how we will transform to ensure we remain focused on making gambling safer, fairer and free from crime.
We have developed an ambitious strategy on two broad fronts:
Delivering on the decisions taken to bring about significant and lasting change to how gambling is provided, and the National Lottery is operated.
The Government’s White Paper High Stakes - Gambling reform for the digital age (opens in new tab) sets out a significant number of commitments to modernise the way gambling is regulated in this country and ensure it continues to strike the right balance between consumer freedoms and choice on the one hand, and protection from harm on the other. In addition, for the first time in its history there is a new Licence Holder for the National Lottery; and a changed regulatory regime to continue to deliver a successful National Lottery.
Investing in key areas to improve how we deliver our work for consumers, the public and licensees.
Targeted investment in priority areas will mean we can continue to regulate effectively in the future. That investment will be in our approaches, our systems, the evidence we rely on, and most importantly, our people. In this way we can ensure our regulation continues to reflect developments in the gambling industry with the ultimate aim to provide the best outcomes for consumers and the public.
Some significant areas of the strategy, such as work on delivering the Government’s White Paper commitments and the start of the Fourth National Lottery Licence, are already in progress. Improvements to the way we collect and use data are also underway and are fundamental to our work. We are clear that better evidence, driven by more effective use of data will lead to better regulation, which in turn will lead to better outcomes for consumers, the public and licensees. We plan to be even more transparent with our data and make public more information about our work.
We have identified where we can make improvements to our licensing, compliance and enforcement work to ensure it is as effective and efficient as possible and reflect the risks and opportunities of regulating in an increasingly digital age. We have also considered how we can pursue a positive longer-term direction of travel for gambling regulation as the industry’s approach to regulatory risk continues to mature. We intend to look at opportunities that exist for new regulatory approaches to build on the work outlined within this strategy, such as earned recognition, and we will be testing and learning what works and what does not.
All these actions will ensure that we improve the way we work to ensure gambling is fairer, safer and crime free for the benefit of consumers and the wider public.
Marcus Boyle, Chair and Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner
Next pageCorporate Strategy 2024 to 2027 Introduction
Last updated: 8 April 2024
Show updates to this content
Formatting issues corrected.