Handling of Technical Evidence Submitted by Gambling Consumers

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request informationregarding the Commission's procedures for assessing technical evidencesubmitted by gambling consumers alleging unfair or manipulated gambling software.

Please provide the following information for the period 1 January 2018 to the present date.

1. Documentation describing the procedures used by the Commissionto assess technical evidence submitted by consumers alleging manipulation,malfunction, or unfair behaviour in remote gambling software.
2. Confirmation of whether the Commission accepts the followingforms of evidence from consumers when assessing allegations of unfair games:

• video recordings of gameplay
• statistical analysis of game outcomes
• raw gameplay logs
• third-party technical analysis
• expert statistical reports.

3. The number of cases during the requested period in whichconsumers submitted technical evidence alleging unfair game behaviour ormanipulation.
4. Of those cases, please provide the number where the Commission:

• opened a formal investigation
• referred the issue to the operator for review
• referred the issue to an approved test house
• closed the case without investigation.

5. Please provide documentation describing the criteria used todetermine whether evidence submitted by consumers warrants a technicalinvestigation.
6. Please confirm whether the Commission has ever commissionedindependent technical experts or statisticians to review evidence submitted byconsumers.
7. If so, please provide the number of such cases during therequested period.

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your email you have requested information regarding the Commission's procedures for assessing technical evidence submitted by gambling consumers alleging unfair or manipulated gambling software.

Specifically, for the period 1 January 2018 to the present date:

1) Documentation describing the procedures used by the Commission to assess technical evidence submitted by consumers alleging manipulation, malfunction, or unfair behaviour in remote gambling software. 2) Confirmation of whether the Commission accepts the following forms of evidence from consumers when assessing allegations of unfair games:

• video recordings of gameplay
• statistical analysis of game outcomes
• raw gameplay logs
• third-party technical analysis
• expert statistical reports. 3) The number of cases during the requested period in which consumers submitted technical evidence alleging unfair game behaviour or manipulation. 4) Of those cases, please provide the number where the Commission:
• opened a formal investigation
• referred the issue to the operator for review
• referred the issue to an approved test house
• closed the case without investigation. 5) Please provide documentation describing the criteria used to determine whether evidence submitted by consumers warrants a technical investigation. 6) Please confirm whether the Commission has ever commissioned independent technical experts or statisticians to review evidence submitted by consumers. 7) If so, please provide the number of such cases during there quested period.

The Gambling Commission are an industry regulator, 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 places, including from gambling consumers, 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. Any information drawn from reports from consumers 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.

When we receive any complaint, we will create a record within our records management system and record details of the complaint in a ‘free text’ field. There will be some information held falling within the scope of your request. 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.   

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.

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