UKGC Unable to Provide Historical Complaint Data
FOI request reveals pre-2016 consumer complaint figures are inaccessible due to the regulator's own record-keeping.
The UK Gambling Commission has been unable to fulfil a request for the total number of consumer complaints from 2010-2015, citing its own historical record-keeping practices. This lack of data creates a significant blind spot in understanding long-term trends in the UK gambling industry.
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A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is unable to provide a full, long-term history of consumer complaints due to its own data management practices prior to 2016.
The disclosure highlights a significant gap in the public data available for tracking historical trends in consumer dissatisfaction within the UK's licensed gambling industry.
The Request for Transparency
An information request submitted to the regulator on 21 August 2024 asked for a simple, year-by-year breakdown of the total number of complaints or reports it had received from customers of gambling operators since 2010.
Such data is crucial for consumers, researchers, and policymakers to assess the scale of consumer issues over time and to measure the effectiveness of regulatory interventions.
Why the Data Was Withheld
The UKGC formally withheld the information, citing Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. This exemption allows public bodies to refuse requests where the cost of retrieving the information would exceed £450, equivalent to 18 hours of staff time.
The reason for this, as explained in the Commission's response, is a critical issue with its historical data categorisation.
According to the UKGC, before 2016, both standard enquiries and formal consumer complaints were logged under the same generic category: ‘General Enquiry’.
To isolate the complaint figures for the period between 2010 and 2015, staff would be required to manually review every single ‘General Enquiry’ record to determine its nature. The Commission stated, "we estimate that it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and retrieve and extract any relevant information."
What This Means for Consumers
The inability to access this data creates a historical blind spot. Without a reliable baseline of complaint numbers from 2010 to 2015, it is impossible for the public to accurately track the long-term trajectory of consumer issues reported directly to the regulator.
This period covers significant changes in the UK gambling landscape, including the rise of online gambling and the implementation of the 2014 Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act. The lack of data makes it more difficult to assess the impact of these changes on the volume of consumer complaints.
While the UKGC noted that post-2016 data is categorised differently and may be retrievable through a refined, narrower request, the data for the crucial earlier period remains effectively inaccessible. This lack of historical data undermines efforts to create a complete, long-term picture of consumer protection issues in the UK gambling market.