UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) CEO Andrew Rhodes addressed the state of the UK’s gambling sector in a recent speech at ICE Barcelona.
Beginning on a positive note, the CEO noted that the UK has produced impressive figures in recent months as in November, stating: “gambling in Great Britain has reached the highest GGY we have ever seen – £15.6bn Those official statistics will tell you plenty about what is going on with gambling in Great Britain.”
He then prepared to quote a few more conclusions from the nation’s November report to explain why the UK is leading by example in regards to performance.
Rhodes pointed to the GGY of Arcades – or Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) – which has drastically increased, outrunning the rate at which new machines are being introduced to AGC venues.
Looking into retail gaming, Rhodes pointed out that the UK sector’s online GGY is “increasingly reliant” on casino games, with slots remaining particularly important to growth.
While noting that this certainly smooths the seasonality of gambling, the UKGC Chief did exercise caution by raising the question of what happens when bets that are placed become adjusted for inflation.
“We have not really seen that consumer staking necessarily tracks in line with inflation. For example, we have not seen evidence that if inflation rises to 10% that someone’s normal £10 or £100 bet becomes £11 or £110.
“If you did expect staking in gambling to track with inflation then you would need to overcome that inelasticity,” he explained, adding that the consumer will always be in charge of how much they stake – regardless of margins, return to player ratios, offers and other incentives. “We will have to see how these patterns continue,” he added.
The Gambling Act Review White Paper was also brought up in the speech, as it nears its two year-mark since it was first published in April 2023.
Rhodes ensured that he sees no trouble laying ahead with its implementation. Despite a dramatic shift in government as a result of Labour’s victory in the last general election, gambling regulation seems to remain in the same direction as before – having received the full backing of Baroness Twycross.
The UKGC Chief also revealed that the next consultation on Games Machine Technical Standards – an outcome of the 2023 White Paper – will be published within the next “days or weeks”.
Moving on, with consumer safety at the heart of the White Paper, the illegal market was also a key mention in Rhodes’ remarks.
He explained that the UKGC’s focus in 2025 will remain on ‘frustrating’ unlicensed operators by going all out and taking counter measures ‘as far upstream as possible’, meaning that everyone on the supply chain will have their role to play in this fight – from payment providers to search engines.
According to Rhodes, since April 2024 there have been more than 770 cease and desist notices, including 262 issued to operators and 205 to advertisers.
It was also explained that in the same period there have been around 64,000 URLs removed by Google thanks to constant communication between the UKGC and the search engine.
Towards the end of his speech, Rhodes took his time to issue a warning regarding recent cases of licensed games being used by unlicensed websites to target British consumers.
While he confirmed that an investigation into the matter is under way by the Commission, the UKGC Chief urged all license holders to re-examine their B2B and B2C practices and supply chains to ensure that they are up to standard, otherwise they risk losing their GB license with immediate effect.
