News Gambling Commission consult on proposed change to Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice

“The Gambling Commission has announced that it is consulting upon further proposed changes to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). The proposed changes are in respect of age and identity verification with the aim of providing further protection for children.

The proposed update to the LCCP would mean that online gambling business would be required to verify:

• the age of customers before they can deposit money or gamble, or access play-for-free versions of gambling games;
• the identity of a customer – including their name, address, date of birth and email address – before they are allowed to gamble; and
• that the name associated with the customer’s payment method matches the name of the gambling account holder.

The Gambling Commission is inviting gambling operators, consumers and members of the general public to voice their opinion on the proposed changes via an online survey which can be found here.  

Under the current requirements, operators have 72 hours to carry out age verification (AV) checks. The Licensee cannot permit customers to withdraw winnings until the AV has been completed. A customer’s stake must be returned if it transpires that they are underage.  The Gambling Commission has stated within its online survey that it has concerns regarding the current AV window providing  “…an opportunity for children and young people to deposit money and gamble undetected for up to three days.”  

It is also worth noting that within the online survey, the Gambling Commission advises that it also intends to consult at a later date on proposals that would require limits to be set on a customers’ gambling activity. These limits would only be able to be changed once the Licensee has verified further information of the customer. The Commission gives examples of the further information that could be sought such as financial and behavioural indictors and the completion of problem gambling self- assessment screens.

More to follow.”