Star Racing LTD

Request

Please can you provide any (ALL - both disclosed and undisclosed) special measures that Star Racing LTD have received with regards to their licence after or before their most recent fine.

Response

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

In your email you have requested:

“Please can you provide any (ALL - both disclosed and undisclosed) special measures that Star Racing LTD have received with regards to their licence after or before their most recent fine.”

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. A key aim of the Commission is to ensure that licensed businesses are compliant in the shortest possible time - this protects consumers fastest and reduces the chances of crime entering businesses.

Once licensed, gambling operators are subject to ongoing compliance requirements and are subject to regulatory action should they fail to meet their licence requirements. Information collated as part of this process is used to assess whether a person or entity is fit to hold a licence.

The Commission has robust and effective processes and procedures in place which are utilised when assessing licensees. These procedures and processes are put in place to minimise the risk of an operator being allowed to continue to offer gambling facilities where they do not meet the required standards. This demonstrates to the public at large that they can have confidence in the Commission’s licence assessment processes.

One of the tools we use to ensure operators who need to make key improvements are swiftly compliant is to place them into special measures.

Any information that we can publicly disclose in relation to particular regulatory activities is made available on our website at the appropriate time so as not to disclose any information that could impact on our ability to make enquiries and conduct investigations.

Section 31(3)

Section 31(3) (“Law Enforcement”) provides that the duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that compliance with section 1(1)(a) would or would be likely to, prejudice any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1). 

Public Interest Test 

The Commission is not able to confirm or deny whether we hold any information within the scope of your request. Section 31 FOIA requires that we consider a public interest test to identify whether there is a wider public interest in fulfilling this request opposed to maintaining the exemption. 

Gambling operators are required to provide detailed information to the Commission. Statutory mechanisms exist to compel the provision of information, but this is not always the most effective way to obtain information. We rely on the voluntary supply of information in order to perform our licensing, compliance and policy functions. In operator specific engagement, we rely on open and frank exchanges in order to reach decisions. Disclosing whether we hold operational information without sufficient rationale would undermine this trust and make operators less likely to co-operate with requests in future. 

In Favour of Disclosure  

We acknowledge that there is a legitimate public interest in promoting the accountability and transparency of the Commission and gambling operators. It is important that there is sufficient information in the public domain so consumers have an understanding of the regulatory activity that the Commission is taking with specific operators to enable them to make informed decisions regarding their choice of operator. 

In Favour of Maintaining the Exemption  

However, to disclose to the public whether we hold this information could impact on the free and frank exchange of information between the Commission and gambling operators which could ultimately result in consumers not being protected from operators who are unfit or incompetent in their activities.  

Further to this, confirming or denying information which makes specific individuals or events identifiable is likely to impact on the openness of stakeholders when sharing important information with us or other law enforcement agencies.  

Finally, once or if a formal regulatory decision has been made or there is agreement of a regulatory settlement, the Commission will ordinarily publish all such decisions in full. Fulfilling this request may prejudice the outcome of any ongoing or future investigations by the Commission, or another body, to the detriment of the public interest. 

Weighing the Balance  

Given the points considered, the Commission believes that the interests of the public are better served through maintaining the exemption. The nature of the information requested may prejudice the regulatory work by the Commission and therefore we are not in a position to confirm or deny whether we hold any information in relation to your request.  As previously advised, any regulatory decisions are usually published on the Commission’s website when it is appropriate to do so.

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