Speaking at the World GES in Barcelona, Jenny Williams, commissioner and CEO of the UK Gambling Commission, said the impending point-of-consumption regulation would improve the effectiveness of the UK regulator.
“We’re now expecting around 150 applications,” Williams told interviewer Dan Macadam. “We’ve already had a few applications and a lot of people coming to see us to talk about applying.”
With regard to the judicial review of the new legislation, as sought by the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association, Williams felt the process would not be held up: “Nothing is certain of course but as far as were concerned we’d be extraordinarily surprised if that delayed the process.
“It’s full steam ahead. It wouldn’t be fair to those that have spent a lot of time getting ready to hold back now.”
“We’ve got multi-jurisdictional applicants selling worldwide – we want to have some idea if they are wilfully disregarding somebody else’s regulations,” said Williams, citing sportsbooks in the US as an example. “It’s also about financial riskiness – if companies have a lot of risk in grey markets we might be concerned.”
“But you’ve got to look at both sides of the equation. The UK market is very open in terms of products and the regulatory regime and fees are incredibly reasonable.
“There are lots if reasons why it makes sense to be licensed. Added to which, if you’re not licensed, you can’t market [in the UK].”
She continued: “I think one of the main reasons we argued for the change to a POC regime is that we don’t think we can be an effect regulator without access to the main operators and having knowledge of the way they work.
“The changes mean we will be infinitely better placed to assess risks and implement change. It will be a learning experience but it will make us a more effective regulator in the long term.”
Image: The W Hotel, Barcelona, the venue for the Wolrd Gaming Executive Summit
