The Betting and Gambling Council (BGC), a UK trade group that promotes the interests of online gambling operators, is calling for the installation of an ombudsman to help process consumer complaints. Suggestions of an enhanced framework for dealing with complaints comes as UK lawmakers initiate a long-planned review of the UK’s 2005 Gambling Act, an effort that could change life dramatically for operators.
Although there’s already a similar framework currently in place in the UK, industry stakeholders would like to see it enhanced. They’re also interested in seeing those duties separated from the offices that govern compliance and license issues.
The move is also a sort of goodwill gesture from an industry that’s under heavy fire from critics who are dead set on seeing common industry marketing practices like bonus offers work under heavier regulation. It could also help untangle the bureaucracy
In a statement reported on by SBC News, BGC Chief Executive, Michael Dugher expounded in the group’s idea saying, “This is further evidence of the BGC’s determination to drive up standards in the regulated betting and gaming industry. We hope that the government will look favourably on our calls for a gambling ombudsman to be established as soon as possible following the conclusion of the gambling review, which we strongly support.”
This isn’t the first time that the idea of an ombudsman for the gambling industry has come up but, unlike in previous circumstances, there’s a groundswell of support for reform that could turn the idea into a reality.