Social responsibility

Safer gambling (also known as social responsibility) is all about protecting people from gambling-related harm.

Published: 17 May 2021

Last updated: 14 October 2021

This version was printed or saved on: 8 October 2024

Online version: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/licensees-and-businesses/guide/social-responsibility

Overview: There are three licensing objectives which support the whole basis of gambling regulation:

that crime should be kept out of gambling
it should be conducted in a fair and open way
children and other vulnerable persons should be protected from harm or exploitation from gambling.

Most people who gamble do so safely, but gambling can be harmful for some. These harms may include for example, excessive play due to inexperience or binge gambling, periods of loss of control and more serious gambling addiction. The harm suffered is not restricted to the gambler, it is also felt by families, friends, communities and employers.

Proactively interacting early enough and in the right way can help someone keep control of their gambling and you will retain them as a customer, instead of them choosing to opt for a self-exclusion or closing their account entirely. In the long term this approach is more sustainable for your business.

Compliance with safer gambling requirements

See the following pages:

Licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP)

Our LCCP is the rulebook that sets out the measures that you must take and other aspects that we think are good practice. Use the LCCP as a starting point in order to run your business and build on these provisions, to ensure that you put your customers at the heart of your business.

Working together to improve standards of safer gambling

We work with a number of partner organisations in the area of safer gambling.

GambleAware's (opens in a new tab) programme of treatment, education, harm prevention and research is guided by the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms, which is defined by the independent Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG), and endorsed by us.

We also work with industry groups responsible for raising standards in safer gambling, such as Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (opens in a new tab).

Our expectations

“We want to see you harnessing the same innovation and tools that are used to determine customer profitability, to drive customer protection.

There is perhaps no better way to demonstrate a drive to raising standards than through a genuine and public commitment to meeting your social responsibilities.” - former CEO, Sarah Harrison.