Report
Annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024
The Gambling Commission's 2023 to 2024 Annual report and accounts. For the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
Foreword
Welcome to the Gambling Commission’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2023 to 2024. The year started with the publication of the Gambling Act Review White Paper, and this set the tone for what has been another busy and extremely successful one for the Commission in its work to make gambling in Great Britain safer, fairer and crime-free. Alongside the implementation of the Gambling Act Review, a key focus for the Commission over the past year has been the National Lottery. We oversaw the first ever change of Licensee in the history of the National Lottery when we awarded the Fourth National Lottery Licence to Allwyn Entertainment Ltd (Allwyn). Allwyn seamlessly took over the running of the National Lottery from Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd on 1 February 2024 thanks to the dedication of the teams at the Commission, Allwyn and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The last year was also the final year of our 2021 to 2024 Corporate Strategy, which was of course underpinned by our statutory duties and driven through our 5 priority areas, which were:
- protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling
- a fairer market and more informed consumers
- keeping crime out of gambling
- optimising returns to good causes from the National Lottery
- improving gambling regulation.
The Annual Report and Accounts for 2023 to 2024 provides a detailed overview of a year of delivery against these 5 priority areas from the 2021 to 2024 Corporate Strategy. While this has been largely focused on beginning the work to implement the Gambling Act Review and in safely and successfully delivering the National Lottery Fourth Licence, we have made important progress in a number of other areas, including improved operational and financial performance and the setting up of a further Expert Group in our Industry Panel.
Our part in the implementation of the Gambling Act Review White Paper, High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age (PDF) (opens in new tab) is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver specific change for gambling in Great Britain. However, it also builds on a significant, long-term programme of measures the Commission already have in place. One such example being the extension of protections that the Commission had introduced for online slots games to other online gambling products because of our work to implement the White Paper.
Our first round of consultations was published in the Summer of 2023, and this was followed by another round of consultations in support of the White Paper, in November 2023. We published our response to the first round of consultations in May which sets out how we will implement substantial and meaningful changes that will make gambling safer and fairer for consumers across Great Britain. This includes a pilot of frictionless financial risk assessments, the roll out of light touch financial risk checks, and new rules on direct marketing and age verification as well as extension of where Personal Management Licences are needed in gambling companies. Further consultations and their responses will follow in the year ahead.
Consultations are only one part of our work to deliver the White Paper commitments though, and the last year was also another important year in our work to improve the evidence base for gambling in Great Britain. We continued to publish regular industry statistics and published further research in our Consumer Voice work. We also published our 3-year Evidence Gaps and Priorities 2023 to 2026 programme and made great strides in developing our new Prevalence and Participation methodology – a project that started with a consultation back in December 2020. The methodology is a significant step forward for refining these important statistics that were developed out of the experimental stage during the last year, with the Commission publishing the first official statistics for the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) in February 2024. These statistics covered participation and this Summer we will publish the first of what will be annual updates that cover the impact of gambling as well. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain is the largest survey of its kind in the world.
The successful change-over from the Third to the Fourth National Lottery Licence was a signal achievement for the Commission and was a historic moment. The Fourth Licence by design will mean more of every pound spent on the National Lottery will go to Good Causes whilst still making sure it is safe to play. The National Lottery celebrates its 30th birthday this year and, since 1994, it has made a huge impact on the UK. Everyone at the Commission is committed to moving forwards with the new operator, Allwyn, and Government to make the Fourth Licence a big success for players and for the Good Causes that rely upon it up and down the country.
Ensuring that returns to Good Causes are maximised is a key objective and seeing £1.7 billion raised to support good causes in arts, sports, heritage and community projects during the year was also extremely positive to see.
Turning to our core activity, following record breaking years, the last year saw a slight drop in the number of operators we took enforcement action against, with 19 in total leading to £13.4 million in fines or regulatory settlements. Further to this, what we saw during last year compared to previous years, is a significant increase in the number of larger operators being found to be compliant at the point of their assessment by the Commission. What we saw was the rate of operators achieving compliant first-time outcomes in our assessments more than doubled and the compliance rate of the largest operators has almost trebled in the past 2 years. These are positive indicators of the work that the Commission has been doing to raise standards of compliance with our rules and on the part of operators as well. Alongside this we have made a significant impact tackling illegal online gambling, through our upstream work with third parties in finance, payment services and internet service providers.
We are also focused on building collaborative relationships with those we regulate, holding further events to foster cooperation to help the continued drive for increased compliance with our rules. This includes events like our Better Evidence, Better Outcomes conference and continuing to hold regular roundtables, speak at events and visit stakeholders and operators directly. We have continued to meet and have other forms of engagement with Parliamentarians, campaign groups, charities, government departments, international regulators, and partners. In the last year, the Commission had over 250 senior-level meetings and engagements with stakeholders - a further increase on the year before and the equivalent of one every working day.
As part of our strategic workforce planning, we continue to invest in our people, making sure we have the right skills, opportunities and experiences to build a workforce that performs effectively, with a focus on the value of the work we do and the impact we have.
Our updated Diversity and Inclusion strategy is helping us to strengthen our ways of working and foster an inclusive environment, as well as ensuring we continue to meet our legal obligations. Our aim with the refreshed strategy is to maximise opportunities to attract and retain diverse representation throughout our workforce and grow our reputation as an inclusive employer that values the rich spectrum of diversity. We cannot achieve what we do without the hard work and commitment of all staff. We were therefore delighted to be recognised as a 2024 UK Best Workplace by Great Place to Work for the second year running with an increased trust index score of 72 percent and a survey response rate of 91 percent.
We have now published our new Corporate Strategy for 2024 to 2027, the delivery of which will build on our achievements over the previous corporate strategy period. The year ahead will continue where 2023 to 2024 left off as we start to deliver against the ambitious agenda we have set out in the new Corporate Strategy. While some of our areas of strategic focus will change, our approach will be familiar. We will continue to work with others and to exploit all the tools and resources at our disposal to regulate gambling and the National Lottery in a way which strikes the right balance, so that consumers of gambling and the National Lottery may continue to enjoy those products while ensuring that appropriate protections are in place. The next few years provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make gambling safer, fairer and crime free. The terrific work done in 2023 to 2024, taken alongside our ambitious Corporate Strategy and plans to implement the Gambling Act Review put the Commission in a prime position to grasp that opportunity in full.
Marcus Boyle Chair
Andrew Rhodes Chief Executive and Accounting Officer
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Annual Report and Accounts 2023 to 2024 - Performance report
Last updated: 17 October 2024
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