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Gambling Commission unveils new enforcement strategy

05 July 2017

The Gambling Commission has unveiled a new enforcement strategy which will be used to tackle operators who breach gambling regulations.

The new strategy, which comes into force today, follows the Commission’s consultation: Changes to our enforcement strategy: putting the consumer first.

Key changes include:

  • changes to the Commission’s statement on financial penalties including introducing higher penalties for breaches, particularly where it sees systemic and repeated failings
  • putting all regulatory tools, including licence review (both of the operator and personal management licences), on an equal footing by removing the current bias in favour of settlement1
  • using time-limited discounts to create better incentives for early settlement
  • Sarah Harrison, Commission Chief Executive, said: “We will use the full range of enforcement powers to ensure operators put customers first and raise standards.

“The industry can be assured that we will use our powers in a targeted way, and consumers and the public can be assured we will take robust and effective action when gambling companies don’t meet their obligations.”

Read the Commission’s licensing objectives.

1 A regulatory settlement is a resolution between the Commission and an operator in cases where concerns have been raised about that operator. In these instances, the Commission and the operator agree on a course of action which meets the Commission’s regulatory objectives, without having to use the Commission’s regulatory powers. This contrasts with the Commission using its powers to impose a statutory sanction following a licence review.

Note to editors

  1. More information about how we regulate the gambling industry.
  2. Useful statistics on the gambling industry.

Journalists can contact our press office on 0121 230 6700 or email: communications@gamblingcommission.gov.uk

For all media enquiries, please contact the Gambling Commission press office.

Last updated: 20 August 2021

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