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  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

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Contents

Proposal 7: Improve our digital service for regulatory returns collection (eServices)

Proposal

We proposed to improve the usability, accessibility, and availability of our eServices system for the submission of regulatory returns and building a new digital service.

Improvements included exploring adding additional tailoring to the regulatory returns part of eServices (enabling us to remove sections from the regulatory return which are not relevant for that licensee for that period’s return) and considering options for multi-format data submissions of regulatory returns (for example introducing an Application Programme Interface (API)).

We also invited other suggestions on how we could improve our systems for regulatory return data submissions.

Consultation question

Question 2.7a. Do you agree with the proposals?

Consultation question

Question 2.7b. Do you have any other suggestions to improve our systems for regulatory return data submissions?

Respondents' views

There was wide support for our proposal to introduce additional tailoring to the regulatory returns part of eServices, which respondents commented would make the returns simpler, easier, and quicker to complete.

While our suggestion of providing alternative options for submitting regulatory returns data to us (for example an Application Programme Interface (API)) was welcomed by some, others commented that if this was the only method of submitting regulatory returns, it would require them to adapt their business’ internal data arrangements. Several respondents suggested a Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file upload system may be more suitable than an API solution.

Many respondents were critical of our eServices’ portal and were attracted to the development of a new system, though were concerned that any new system might have initial glitches and require data entry staff to be retrained. There was a request for us to include more detailed guidance and definitions for regulatory returns both on our website and within the eServices’ portal. Another request asked for us to publish the regulatory return question set, so that licensees could have this readily at hand prior to entering data into the eServices’ portal.

It was also suggested that we capture data about the number of customers who try to claim monies from a licensee via the small claims court. One respondent asked if we could review how we collect data on regulatory returns for gambling software licensees and for those with host operating licences, noting the inter-relationship between these two licence types.

Operators with multiple licensed activities spread across several regulatory return types, and operators with multiple licences within a company group, asked for certain data points (for example operational events) to be reported at an ‘operator level’, rather than on different returns; commenting that disaggregated of many of these events by return type was difficult.

A few responses asked for us to redesign our regulatory returns system so that the figures from a licensee’s previous return were visible on the same screen as the data being requested in the current return. Two respondents asked for more information to be provided in the data validation section of regulatory returns, such that the licensees could understand why their data has been flagged.

Our position

We are committed to improving our regulatory returns collection approach, both to make the returns simpler, easier, and quicker to complete for licensees, but also to improve the quality of data we receive.

We welcome the suggestions made during this consultation and will take them into account as we explore either improving the current regulatory returns system or building a new digital service for this purpose.

Scoping for this project will start in autumn 2020. We commit to engaging with the industry as we design, build, test and roll-out any new approach. This engagement will be carried out alongside our existing User Research Programme (opens in new tab) for improving our digital services. Until the scoping exercise is completed, we are not able to provide any further details on timescales for this work.

We agree that it would be helpful to publish guidance for regulatory returns and also to and the full regulatory return question set on our website. These changes will be implemented within the current financial year.

Previous section
Proposal 6: Link the requirement for licensees to submit quarterly or annual returns to the aggregate maximum GGY permitted by all their licences Next section
Proposal 8: Proposal to discontinue collecting monthly non-remote casino drop and win data
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