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Escalating to an Alternative Dispute Resolution

You must offer customers dispute resolution free of charge if a dispute about the outcome of their gambling transaction has not been resolved by your complaints procedure within 8 weeks or earlier.

You must choose an approved ADR provider. You can have more than one ADR provider but you must tell customers which is the relevant one for their dispute.

ADR guidance for businesses

We recommend you follow guidance on alternative dispute resolution (opens in new tab) originally produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (opens in new tab).

What you must do

We have summarised the requirements for licensed gambling operators and ADR as follows.

Offer binding decisions

We expect you to offer ADR which is binding (if accepted by the customer) for disputes which would otherwise be taken to the small claims court. These are disputes of no more than £10,000.

For disputes over £10,000, the ADR procedure does not need to be binding. For example, this would mean that mediation could be used for disputes of more than £10,000 or for adjudication decisions to be non-binding on the operator.

What you must tell your customers

You must provide information to you customers in a clear, comprehensible, and accessible way.

Your terms and conditions of sale or service contracts must include information about the ADR provider you use to resolve disputes.

This includes:

  • their name
  • contact details
  • website address.

Retention of ADR information and records

You need to have appropriate arrangements in place to retain the information and records necessary to facilitate effective procedures for dealing with customer complaints and disputes.

Failure to hold records and information may result in a dispute being resolved in the customer's favour if you cannot produce appropriate records or evidence.

ADR requirements only apply to businesses which contract directly with consumers

However, 'B2B' operators should support ADR processes. For example, by providing information to the businesses with which they contract to support investigation of a dispute.

Unlicensed gambling operators

Gambling businesses which are not licensed by the Commission are not required by us to offer dispute resolution. For example, unlicensed family entertainment centres or pubs and clubs with gaming machines.

However, we recommend you read the alternative dispute resolution guidance in full to ensure your business is compliant with the law.

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Last updated: 20 February 2023

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