UK Gambling Commission establishes Industry Forum made up of sector representatives

The UK Gambling Commission has announced the establishment of an Industry Forum, to be made up of representatives belonging to Britain's gambling industry. The role of the group will be to provide the Commission with further insight into the views of operators.

Marcus Boyle, Commission Chair, said: “We’ve always listened to the views of the industry when deciding how best to make progress but this new forum will give us another way to work with representatives from the industry we regulate.

The Forum will sit alongside a range of stakeholder engagement initiatives and advisory groups that support the UKGC in ensuring its work is "evidence-led." These include the Lived Experience Advisory Panel, the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling, and the Digital Advisory Panel; and also consumer research, relationships with international regulators, and the regulator's involvement with consumer insight organizations.

The Forum will share industry views on areas such as account management, consultations, and the Commission’s data programme. The Commission said that it will recruit and appoint a Chair of the Forum for a three-year term in addition to other members "who understand the industry and the challenges and opportunities it faces." There will be around ten members representative of the wide range of gambling sectors.

The Commission noted that the recruitment for the chairperson will begin this month when it will also invite expressions of interest to be a member. Details of members and their advice to the commission will be published on the UKGC's website.

The development comes after the Commission attempted to clarify misunderstandings surrounding policies on financial risk checks, also known as affordability checks, last week. UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes wrote that the regulator had seen “a significant amount of misinformation… in direct responses to the consultation, in the media and on social media,” in relation to these checks.

The new effort to engage with the gambling industry also comes as the UKGC consults with the sector on future reform. These consultations, which launched in July, examine a number of proposed policies laid out in the Gambling Act white paper.