ID onerous demands after withdrawals complaints
Request
- Could you please tell me what proportion of the complaints you receive relate to ID onerous demands after withdrawals?
- Also, would you let me know of any instances in which you have fined or otherwise sanctioned a bookmaker for this practice?
Response
Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In your email you have requested:
- Could you please tell me what proportion of the complaints you receive relate to ID onerous demands after withdrawals?
- Also, would you let me know of any instances in which you have fined or otherwise sanctioned a bookmaker for this practice?
Question 1:
The Gambling Commission can confirm that from all complaints the number linked to any Operators under withdrawals is as follows:
2023 - 2,405
2024 - 1,985
In relation to the total number of complaints received relating to ID onerous demands after withdrawals, the Gambling Commission can confirm as follows:
2023 - 895
2024 - 837
Question 2:
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 do not become involved in or “act upon” individual complaints.
Information relating to our regulatory work can be found on the Gambling Commission website.
The Commission is a regulatory body with licensing, compliance, and enforcement functions; through our regulatory activity, the Commission aims to protect consumers and the wider public, and to raise standards in the gambling industry. We 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.
When we publish these statements and sanctions, we take care to present as much information as possible to ensure that lessons can be learned by operators. However, we must also be careful not to reveal any information that could hinder our ability to conduct investigations or enable those we may investigate to avoid detection.
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
Internal Review Request
Thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately, you haven't really answered my questions.
Question 1 was 'Could you please tell me what proportion of the complaints you receive relate to ID onerous demands after withdrawals?'
I need to know either the number I asked for or enough data so that I can work it out myself.- i.e. the data missing is the total number of complaints
Question 2 was 'Also, would you let me know of any instances in which you have fined or otherwise sanctioned a bookmaker for this practice?'
You haven't answered that question at all. You've just given me a link to another document which I would have to search through myself.
You wrote that you had received 1732 complaints about onerous ID requirements after a withdrawal. Your web site clearly states that bookmakers should NOT ask for ID after withdrawal if they could have asked for that ID previously.
Could you please tell me anything at all that you have done about the 1732 complaints?
Internal Review Response
I am writing to you further to your Freedom of Information request dated xxx which we responded to on xxx, and your subsequent request for an internal review received on xxx.
We have now concluded our review and our findings are detailed below.
This internal review was conducted by someone who was not involved in the processing of your original request.
In your initial email you requested the following information:
- Could you please tell me what proportion of the complaints you receive relate to ID onerous demands after withdrawals?
- Also, would you let me know of any instances in which you have fined or otherwise sanctioned a bookmaker for this practice?
In response to part one of your request we confirmed that from all complaints the number linked to any operators under withdrawals is as follows:
2023 - 2,405 2024 - 1,985
Further to this, we provided that in relation to the total number of complaints received relating to ID onerous demands after withdrawals, the Gambling Commission can confirm as follows:
2023 - 895 2024 – 837
In reply to your request for an internal review of our initial response I can now provide the total number of complaints received for the years 2023 and 2024 are as follows:
2023 – 6940 2024 - 6907
In relation to part two of your request, section 21 of the FOIA provides that information is exempt where it is reasonably accessible elsewhere.
As was stated in our initial response, we 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. Public statements are available on the Gambling Commission website for 3 years from the date of issue.
As such, any information falling within the scope of your request can be found on the Gambling Commission website.
However, its worth noting that, as previously explained, 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 do not become involved in or “act upon” individual complaints. As such, where you have inquired in your internal review request “tell me anything at all that you have done about the 1732 complaints”, we do not hold any information directly related to each individual complaint. 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.
We use evidence from a range of places, including from gambling customers, 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. Information drawn from complaints raised against operators may be used by the Commission to inform our regulatory approach and determine whether any action may be necessary.
If we have sufficient information about an issue with an operator that we feel needs to be pursued, we will commence a dialogue with the operator, this may or may not result in further action being taken.
If you are not content with the outcome of your review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Gambling Commission. The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.