Guidance
Customer interaction guidance - for remote gambling licensees (Formal guidance under SR Code 3.4.3)
Customer interaction guidance for remote gambling licensees (Formal guidance under SR Code Provision 3.4.3).
Section D - Evaluate - Requirement 14
This current guidance was issued in August 2023 and is in effect from 31 October 2023. It replaces all earlier versions of guidance issued for remote gambling operators.
14. Licensees must take account of problem gambling rates for the relevant gambling activity as published by the Commission2, in order to check whether the number of customer interactions is, at a minimum, in line with this level. For the avoidance of doubt, this provision is not intended to mandate the outcome of those customer interactions.
Aim
Customer interaction is designed to identify customers at risk of harm. If the licensee’s systems do not identify numbers of customers at least in line with the problem gambling rates for the relevant activity, those systems are likely to be failing to identify the right proportion of customers.
This requirement provides a backstop protection – to ensure that customer interaction takes place as a minimum for the proportion of the customer base as the problem gambling rate for the gambling activity (or activities).
Formal guidance
14.1. In order to meet requirement 14, the Gambling Commission expects that systems and processes will be designed to as a minimum undertake customer interactions with at least the same proportion of their customer base as the problem gambling rate for the gambling activity or activities they offer. Customer interactions are those actions taken in connection with requirement 9. Because licensees should be identifying people at risk of harm the proportion of customers who receive a customer interaction should be greater than the problem gambling rate.
14.2. Licensees should ensure that they are on track to meet the minimum levels of customer interactions over an annual period, and to do so should assess progress monthly.
14.3. The Commission considers that the current most relevant and robust problem gambling rates relevant for this provision are the problem gambling rates from the Health Survey for England: Supplementary analysis on gambling (2018) (opens in a new tab), and specifically the problem gambling rates for the individual activities. We consider this to be appropriate for all licensees, although the survey is based in England.
14.4. We will update the guidance over time where we consider it necessary to reflect recent problem gambling prevalence statistics. Problem gambling rates for the relevant gambling activities are available on our website.
14.5. Licensees who offer more than one product or activity will need to work out their overall problem gambling rate to check they are compliant with this requirement. This should be based on the proportions of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) that they generate for each activity. For example, casino games have a higher problem gambling rate. Where a licensee generates more GGY from casino games than from betting, the overall problem gambling rate for this requirement should be proportionate to the GGY from each activity.
References
2 Problem gambling rates for the relevant gambling activities are available on our website.
Section D - Evaluate - Requirement 13
Last updated: 23 August 2023
Show updates to this content
Guidance updated following the 'Remote customer interaction - consultation on guidance'.