UKGC: Too Costly to List Past Rule Changes
FOI response reveals difficulty in tracking historical player protection regulations for betting exchanges.
The UK Gambling Commission has stated it would be too costly to compile a list of all social responsibility rule changes affecting betting exchanges over a 14-year period. A Freedom of Information request was refused on the grounds that it would exceed the 18-hour time limit for staff to locate the data. This highlights the difficulty in tracking the historical evolution of player protection rules in the UK.
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UKGC Cites Excessive Cost to Detail 14 Years of Rule Changes
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed the difficulty in obtaining a clear, chronological record of gambling regulations from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The regulator stated that compiling a complete list of social responsibility rule changes affecting online betting exchanges between 2007 and 2021 would exceed the cost limit for such requests.
This response highlights a significant transparency challenge for consumers and researchers attempting to understand the evolution of player protection rules over time.
The Request and The Refusal
The request, dated 29 February 2024, asked the Commission for two specific sets of information:
- Details of all investigations and findings against the betting exchange Betfair Limited.
- A list of every regulatory change between 2007 and July 2021 related to social responsibility and risk assessment for online betting exchanges.
The UKGC refused the request under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This exemption allows public authorities to refuse requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed £450, which equates to an estimated 18 hours of staff time.
In its response, the Commission explained that locating, retrieving, and extracting the requested information from a large volume of documents would take longer than the 18-hour limit. It noted that it did not license the majority of the online market prior to 2014, and that regulatory consultations are often broad and do not single out specific operator types like 'betting intermediaries' in their titles, making a simple search difficult.
What This Means for Consumers
The Commission’s inability to easily produce a historical list of its own rules for a specific sector underscores the complexity of the UK's regulatory framework. For a consumer who may have a dispute with an operator dating back several years, finding the exact social responsibility rules that were in effect at that time is a formidable task.
If the regulator itself finds it too burdensome to compile this history, it places a significant onus on individuals to navigate a complex web of historical documents, including:
- Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP)
- Public consultations and responses
- LCCP update pages (which the UKGC admits are incomplete)
- General advice notes
Key Changes Were Highlighted
Despite the refusal, the UKGC did provide some context, confirming several major rule changes during the period that applied to betting exchanges and related to social responsibility. These include:
- The introduction of Annual Assurance Statements.
- Strengthened controls on how licensees incentivise high-spending customers (VIP schemes).
- The prohibition of credit cards for online gambling.
- The introduction and subsequent updates to Customer Interaction Guidance.
While this information is helpful, the FOI response confirms that there is no single, easily accessible source for consumers to track the complete history of player protection rules. The burden remains on the public to piece together this information from multiple, disparate sources on the Commission's website.