Complaints about bookmakers making withdrawals difficult for customers
Request
Your web site states that one of your most common complaints is about bookmakers making withdrawals difficult for customers.
Could you please tell me how many complaints you get each year and, of those, how many are about withdrawals. Which bookmakers have most complaints lodged against them? What fines have you levied for withdrawal ID abuse?
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
- How many complaints you get each year and, of those, how many are about withdrawals.
- Which bookmakers have most complaints lodged against them?
- What fines have you levied for withdrawal ID abuse?
For context, it should be noted that the Gambling Commission are an industry regulator and not an ombudsman. Our role is to consider if a gambling business has breached their licence conditions, and we will take regulatory action where appropriate.
We use evidence from a range of sources, including from gambling customers, licensed operators, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to build cases against gambling businesses. Information provided to us helps inform our work to raise gambling industry standards and make gambling fairer and safer.
We make a record of all complaints made against a gambling business. Where consumers share information with us that indicates a breach of our rules, that information will inform any regulatory action that we decide to take. However, the way in which we record information we receive changes over time in order to most effectively support our regulatory functions.
I can confirm that the number of complaints received each year is information able to be drawn from information held by the Gambling Commission. Further to this, these figures could be broken by the general categorisation used when we create a record within our records management system.
When we receive any complaint and create a record within our records management system we record more specific details of the complaint in a ‘free text’ field. There will be information held identifying which of these complaints were about withdrawals, however, this information is not easily searchable and would require a manual review of each record to identify the information requested.
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.
In order to identify, locate and retrieve the information requested, we conducted a search relating to consumer complaints. The search revealed that prior to 2016, standard enquiries and consumer complaints were both categorised under ‘General Enquiry’ within our system. In order to identify whether we hold any information falling within the scope of your request we would need to review all of these ‘general enquiries’ to assess if they were relevant to your request, Therefore, we estimate that it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and 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. Guidance on the application of section 12 can be viewed here:
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. For example, S31of the FOIA (Law Enforcement), provides an exemption for information that the Commission holds where disclosure would undermine the Commission’s licensing objective to keep crime out of gambling. Disclosure of this information could seriously impact the Commission’s ability to fulfil its statutory functions, which is strongly not in the public interest.
Please note, any refined request would be processed as a new request and the 20 working day statutory time limit would apply.
In relation to part three of your request, We do not become involved in or “act upon” individual complaints, this means we do not have the powers to resolve individual gambling complaints or help consumers get their money back. However, all information received helps to build a picture of the gambling industry and support our regulatory functions. We do release details of our enforcement activity through public statements. 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. However, public statements are only available on the Gambling Commission website for 3 years from the date of issue, more historic sanctions records are readily available on request as explained above.
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