Under age gambling
Press
release
Date: 11 May
2009
The Gambling Commission (the Commission) has written to licensed
bookmakers to remind them that they must have effective policies
and procedures in place to prevent young people under the age of 18
from gambling or entering a betting shop.
This follows a recent mystery shopping exercise undertaken by
the Commission throughout England that revealed a disturbing
failure rate. The exercise covered all the major betting
operators in Great Britain, accounting for around 80% of betting
shops, and the initial results show that in 98 of the 100 shops
visited a 17 year old was allowed to place a bet at the
counter.
The Director of Regulation at the Commission, Nick Tofiluk, has
already met with senior executives at the companies involved to
discuss these results and the action the operators plan to take to
speedily address the situation.
Nick Tofiluk said “It is illegal for young people under the age
of 18 to gamble or to enter a betting shop. We are extremely
concerned at these results - further mystery shopping exercises
will be conducted to ensure that controls are adequate and
effective”.
The Commission will continue with its mystery shopping
exercises* and will not hesitate to take regulatory action where
necessary.
Ends
Notes to editors
- The Gambling Commission regulates gambling in the public
interest. It does so by keeping crime out of gambling, by ensuring
that gambling is conducted fairly and openly, and by protecting
children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by
gambling. The Commission also provides independent advice to
government on gambling in Britain.
- The Commission is responsible for licensing and regulating all
gambling in Great Britain other than the National Lottery and
spread betting, which are the responsibility of the National
Lottery Commission and the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
respectively.
- The rolling programme of mystery shopping exercises is one
feature of the Commission’s ongoing compliance activity. It
covers on line gambling, betting shops and AGCs and we work closely
with licensing authorities to ensure compliance.
- * The mystery shopping exercises use under-age volunteers (with
parental consent) as permitted under Section 64 of the Gambling Act
2005 to assess whether effective controls are in place to prevent
under-age gambling.
- Since the Gambling Act 2005 came into force, the Commission has
worked with licence holders to ensure that they have effective
policies and procedures in place, including employee training
programmes, to prevent under-age gambling.
- The Commission is based in Birmingham and has a nationwide team
of over 50 compliance managers.
Further information
Further information is available from the Commission’s
website.
Contact John Travers on (0121) 230 6700 or (07852) 124624, email
communications@gamblingcommission.gov.uk