Action involving test house’s
Request
Please confirm the number of occasions during the last 10 years where a land-based gambling operator (including bookmakers, casinos, bingo operators and adult gaming centres) has been: Found in breach of licence conditions, codes of practice, or regulatory requirements; and/or Subject to regulatory action, sanctions, warnings, settlements, penalties, licence reviews or licence conditions, The number of occasions since 1 January 2021 where a test house’s approval has been suspended, restricted, reviewed, or revoked. Any guidance, policies, or procedures used by the Commission to manage potential conflicts of interest arising from gambling operators or software suppliers funding the testing of their own products. Whether the Commission undertakes any independent verification of certified game RTPs, RNGs, or game mathematics after approval by a test house, and if so, how frequently.
Response
In your email you have requested:
- The number of occasions during the last 10 years where a land-based gambling operator (including bookmakers, casinos, bingo operators and adult gaming centres) has been:
- Found in breach of licence conditions, codes of practice, or regulatory requirements; and/or
- Subject to regulatory action, sanctions, warnings, settlements, penalties, licence reviews or licence conditions,
- The number of occasions since 1 January 2021 where a test house’s approval has been suspended, restricted, reviewed, or revoked.
- Any guidance, policies, or procedures used by the Commission to manage potential conflicts of interest arising from gambling operators or software suppliers funding the testing of their own products.
- Whether the Commission undertakes any independent verification of certified game RTPs, RNGs, or game mathematics after approval by a test house, and if so, how frequently.
In relation to part one of your request, I can confirm that the Gambling Commission does hold information falling within the scope of your request. However, as this information is not stored in an extractable format, we would be required to review each case individually to fulfil your request.
Section 12 (requests where the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit)
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
We estimate, in order to identify, locate and retrieve the information relating to the above request, it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request.
When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit.
If you are able to refine your request, we may be able to narrow the number of records that we need to search.
Until we are able to process the search of the information you have requested, we are unable to ascertain if other exemptions will apply to any material identified which would also prevent disclosure.
Please note, any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply.
We publish details of our enforcement activity through public statements, for the previous three years. The public statements will detail the nature of the failings by the operator and the amount of the fine or settlement. Further to this, the Commission also publishes a list of recent regulatory sanctions we have imposed on licence holders as a result of regulatory action or investigation.
Further to this, guidance relevant to licensees and businesses is available on our website - Test Houses.
Review of the decision
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email.
Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.
If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission.
It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.
The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Information Management Team
Gambling Commission