When UKGC Chief Executive Andrew Rhodes took the stage to deliver the keynote speech at ICE London, he had change on his mind. Rhodes addressed, in some detail, both the changed world that the ICE gathering was taking place in, as well as the changes coming with the review of the UK Gambling Act of 2005.
Rhodes called on the assembled group of gaming industry representatives to acknowledge change, along with some “universal truths” saying, “There are some universal truths about the industry we regulate, but we also need to be realistic about those truths and not lose sight of what else is happening in this sector. There is a whole new frontier of novel products out there now, and I want to talk about these unregulated products also. Like traditional gambling though, these novel products can and do cause harm, so I will update you on where we see our work in tackling gambling harms right now,” he said.
One of the innovations that the UKGC will be using to combat this new wave of potential harm is the Single Customer Viewpoint. This new gaming industry portal will help operators more quickly identify problem gamblers and keep them from doing harm to themselves. “What we are hoping will be possible through the Single Customer View is a position where those who are being flagged as being in distress can be intercepted at a much earlier stage as operators are able to safely alert each other,” he said in a statement reported on by SBC News.
Rhodes also expressed confidence in a series of tests being conducted on the product saying, “We will be publishing the results of that trial in the coming months and if successful will look to build the new methodology into a new gold standard set of official statistics going forwards from next year.”
It seems clear that the UKGC is hoping that the standards they set with the review of the Gambling Act of 2005, will be the template for regulatory agencies across Europe.