Cookies on the Gambling Commission website

The Gambling Commission website uses cookies to make the site work better for you. Some of these cookies are essential to how the site functions and others are optional. Optional cookies help us remember your settings, measure your use of the site and personalise how we communicate with you. Any data collected is anonymised and we do not set optional cookies unless you consent.

Set cookie preferences

You've accepted all cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. About us
  3. Changes to information requirements in the LCCP, regulatory returns, official statistics, and related matters

Consultation response

Changes to information requirements in the LCCP, regulatory returns, official statistics, and related matters

Parts I and II of the consultation response that sets out our position in relation to the information the Gambling Commission requires licensees to provide us.

Published
30 July 2020

Last updated
16 March 2023 - Changes

Document actions
Print or save

Contents

Introduction

The Gambling Commission

We license and regulate commercial gambling within Great Britain, including the National Lottery, with the exception of spread betting which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Our functions include:

  • licensing operators and individuals
  • monitoring compliance with licence conditions and the law
  • investigation and enforcement, both in relation to licensees and illegal (unlicensed) gambling
  • providing advice to central and local government on the incidence, manner, effects, and regulation of gambling.

We have a statutory duty to aim to permit gambling if it is reasonably consistent with the statutory licensing objectives.

Consultation proposals and background

In a consultation (opens in new tab) conducted between 26 February and 20 May 2020, we set out proposals to change some parts of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) relating to the information requirements we require from licensees.

The consultation was split into two parts. Part I detailed changes to information reporting requirements within the LCCP, and Part II focuses on other changes, to regulatory returns and some of our official statistics.

Our consultation proposals wanted to make data requirements more efficient for licensees, and for us. Specifically, the proposals sought to:

  • improve data quality and the efficiency of regulation
  • reflect our continued focus on consumers and social responsibility
  • ensure requirements are reconciled against our current and future data needs
  • streamline our existing requirements and, where possible
  • reduce regulatory burden.

In Part I, we proposed to revise some of the information reporting requirements contained within the operating licence conditions, code of practice provisions and personal licence conditions of the LCCP. These relate to reporting suspicious activity, events that have a significant impact on the nature or structure of a licensee’s business (key events), other reportable events, social responsibility reporting and other matters. The revisions are primarily deletions or rewording of requirements, but we also proposed to introduce several additional requirements.

In Part II, we proposed to remove data points from regulatory returns that we no longer require. We also intended to introduce new data points that place a greater focus on our commitment towards consumers and the prevention of gambling-related harms, and to implement several changes focused on improving data quality (for example, harmonised reporting periods). In addition, we proposed improvements to our official statistics publications.

Our aim was to ensure the information requirements placed on licence holders are proportionate and effective to inform our regulation of the industry. For this reason, we propose to stop collecting monthly casino drop and win data from non-remote casino licensees; and to stop producing our monthly 'Casino Drop & Win' publication. This data is provided to us on a voluntary basis and, while showing casino drop and win data monthly, duplicates data we collect via regulatory returns on a quarterly basis.

We received 70 written responses to the consultation from the following categories of respondents:

  • 50 from licence holders
  • 7 from trade associations
  • 3 from charitable, non-profit or academic organisations
  • 6 from members of the public
  • 4 from others.

Some responses included comments and proposals around measures either outside of the scope of this consultation, or that are outside the remit of the Gambling Commission to implement. We provide limited commentary on these aspects as they do not form part of the proposals being consulted on.

A summary of the responses we received to the consultation questions, along with our position in view of those responses, is provided in the following sections.

Next steps

The proposed changes will affect all licensees, both those with operating licences and, to a lesser extent, personal licence holders. The changes to licence conditions and codes and practice summarised in Part I will take effect on 31 October 2020. Other changes, for example to our eServices system, to regulatory returns, or our official statistics, will take place at the times indicated in the position statements for each specific change.

We will be updating the following guidance documents to reflect changes detailed in this response:

We require further time to review the responses to Part II, Question 2.5 (proposals for the new and modified regulatory returns questions) and are provisionally planning to hold a mini-consultation on this topic in October 2020.

Previous section
Executive Summary - Changes to information requirements for licensees: Consultation Response Next section
Part 1: Summary of responses - Changes to information requirements for licensees: Consultation Response
Is this page useful?
Back to top