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The National Audit Office has warned that regulation of the betting platforms is not keeping up with newer technologies that these platforms are adopting. Essentially, the Gambling Commission is struggling to protect consumers from potential harm brought around by developing online betting outlets.
Continuously Harder
The commission receives an annual budget of around £19 million, but the betting industry had yielded over £11 billion in revenue last year.
As a result, the NAO has claimed the Gambling Commission faces constraints by factors “outside its control”.
They also added how new developments in the gambling industry make it continuously harder for the commission to propose evidence on how these developments cause harm.
The NAO also indicated in the report that the percentage of people that partake in online gambling using mobile phones is up 21% from 2015 to 2018.
This report surfaced following the government’s pledge to re-evaluate the 2005 Gambling Act after a series of scandals within the industry’s growing developments online over the years.
Advertising
The NAO has said one of the main constraints the commission faces is keeping up with changes in how online betting platforms develop through advertising spending, which is predominantly through social media and other online outlets as opposed to television.
The standard of fines has been raised to £20 million, up from £1.4 million in 2015.
The report also emphasized that the continual unregulated development of the betting industry has a growing impact on youth and younger gamblers.
Approximately 55,000 of the 395,000 problem gamblers indicated in the report are children. Almost 2 million more are considered “at risk”.
Gambling industry share values have been impacted by the threat of regulation, provoking effort to improve conditions of gambling platforms for potential at-risk consumers.
“The risks to gamblers are changing as technologies develop. Yet the Gambling Commission is a small regulator in a huge and fast-evolving industry. While the commission has made improvements, gambling regulation lags behind the industry”, said Gareth Davies of the NAO.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has said that they are re-assessing the Gambling Act to ensure it is up to standard with the digital age.