Compliance
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What is compliance?
An important part of the Gambling Commission’s work is to ensure
that licence holders are compliant. Compliance requires licence
holders to understand and act in accordance with:
What is our approach to ensuring
compliance?
Our compliance process concentrates on the effectiveness of
licence holders' self-regulation. The type of compliance activity
we undertake includes:
- carrying out reviews and visits
- giving specific advice or guidance to licence holders
- taking remedial or preventive action
- varying or imposing additional licence conditions
- reviewing financial information.
Our approach to compliance is set out in our Licensing,
compliance and enforcement policy statement and Statement of
principles for licensing and regulation.
Licensing compliance and enforcement policy statement - September
2009
Statement of principles for licensing and regulation - September
2009
Approach to test purchasing - England and Wales only - May 2011
What does a compliance visit involve?
Compliance activity is now based upon risk and the risk that
each licensed activity poses to the Gambling Commission’s licensing
objectives.
The three licensing objectives are:
- keeping crime out of gambling
- ensuring gambling is conducted fairly and
openly
- protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or
exploited by gambling.
Assessments involve a template consisting of standard questions.
These questions form the basis of our assessment process and are
divided into three distinct but linked categories: Suitability,
Provision and Facility (SPF):
- Suitability – to hold, or to continue to hold, a
licence.
- Provision – of gambling activities and the execution of
resultant activities.
- Facility – the gambling product(s) being offered and associated
requirements and implications.
Once the necessary assessment questions are answered the scores
are blended to give an average rating for SPF. These are then
labelled as being, Good, Adequate, Just Adequate or Inadequate.
The current risk model is designed to provide us with a
likelihood score and an impact score based upon
the licensed activity that an operator provides.
The likelihood score is the probability that, based on
an SPF assessment, an issue exists that may impact on the licence
objectives.
The impact score is based upon the licence fee category
(customer base, turnover, activities etc).
The risk rating is calculated by combining the likelihood
score with the impact score for that licensed
activity.
The data from these assessments directly informs our risk
model.
Whilst our system requires time in order to build up sufficient
data to develop an enhanced view of risk, it currently allows us to
ensure that our focus is on those operators and activities that
pose the highest risk to the licensing objectives.
Licence holders who are not compliant
Licence holders who are not compliant risk regulatory action being
taken by us.
Equally, licence holders and individuals who are unco-operative,
or less than open with us, can expect higher levels of regulatory
intervention. Where necessary we will exercise our regulatory
powers.
The Terms & Conditions section of this website contains
further information on legal advice.
Page last reviewed: June
2012