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Strategic focus 1: Using data and analytics to make gambling regulation more effective

Regulation must keep pace with industry and societal developments. Identifying and investing in technology and improvements in data analytics, will ensure regulation remains fit for purpose.

How gambling is offered is increasing in complexity and sophistication. We need to understand developments in data usage among industry to regulate the market effectively.

Here are the specific deliverables which will support the delivery of this strategic focus:

Close evidence gaps in priority areas

We will:

  • publish an evidence gaps and priorities progress update and host a spring conference event
  • procure a Consumer Voice supplier, following the end of the current contract.

Why: In line with the commitments in our strategy we are continuing work to improve our evidence base on the six themes outlined in our Evidence Gaps and Priorities report. This includes the collection of new evidence via our Consumer Voice research programme, Gambling Survey for Great Britain, and our data innovation programme.

As a result: We will make progress in improving our evidence base through the filling of known evidence gaps. Our spring conference will once again bring together a wide range of experts and interested parties to reflect on and discuss current evidence challenges. Procuring a high-quality provider to deliver our Consumer Voice programme will ensure our regulation continues to be responsive to and informed by consumer experiences and perspectives.

Revise our approach to regulatory return data

We will:

  • publish a response to our consultation on proposed changes to the submission of regulatory returns by licensees
  • continue to work with licensees to assist development of the system used to submit regulatory returns.

Why: This forms part of our strategic commitment to make more effective use of data.

As a result: Regulatory return data requests will be streamlined, enabling more timely, accurate data to be collected. Future requests will clearly define the data we ask for and the purposes for which it will be used. We will also ensure that operators comply with the requirement to submit accurate and timely data. The resulting framework will be iterative in process to build confidence in the data. An improved understanding of market developments and trends will help us identify issues impacting consumers and evaluate the impact of interventions.

Complete the full launch of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain

We will:

  • hold a launch event to release the first full dataset, including Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) and harms data from the survey
  • publish quarterly data on participation.

Why: This forms part of our strategic commitment to make more effective use of data, to build a better understanding of the market and a leading understanding of gambling related harm to continue enhancing our work around consumer protection.

As a result: We will ensure the regular collection and publication of official statistics. The data will be published to the UK Data Archive for increased transparency and to encourage wider analysis.

Pilot industry data project

We will:

  • work with a group of licensees to establish and run a pilot data sharing project. During the pilot project we will obtain a daily feed of aggregated consumer data
  • create outputs from the data pilot to evaluate the value that can be obtained by progressing this work.

Why: This forms part of our strategic commitment to significantly increase the depth of our understanding of the gambling market and consumer behaviour. Previous Patterns of Play research demonstrated the value that can be obtained from a granular dataset. We and others have made extensive use of the outputs of that research. We are now exploring how we can develop an approach to obtaining similar data on a recurring basis.

As a result: We will take a significant step in exploring how data and related systems can make gambling regulation more effective. Successful delivery of this pilot will provide a practical insight into how operator data can be collected and the governance, legal and data protections processes required to do this effectively. This work has the potential to create improved analytical outputs which will provide insights into changes in the market and how consumers gamble.

Build on the Commission's capacity to use, report on and analyse data

We will procure a supplier to deliver a wide range of data science support.

Why: This forms part of our strategic commitment to invest in tools, technology and skills to enhance our knowledge, improve the integrity of our data and make it more relevant to current issues.

As a result: It will enable us to take more advantage of the opportunities presented by the other initiatives in this section. Improving the evidence base which informs our work will mean we are more responsive to issues impacting consumers, the wider public and licensees.

Read more details about this strategic focus in our corporate strategy.

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Strategic focus 2: Enhancing our core operational functions 

Last updated: 15 April 2024

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