SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has issued a reminder to industry stakeholders that its call for evidence on its ‘gambling with credit cards consultation’ will close on 6 November.
The UKGC officially launched its credit card consultation on 14 August, having completed its initial responses on 24 July, establishing wagering with borrowed money as a risk factor, as consumers can gamble with more than they can afford.
110 responses were submitted to the UKGC’s first stage of its credit card consultation, from a diverse range of stakeholders including operators, members of the public, charities and financial institutions.
For the next phase of research, the commission states that it aims to gather evidence in relation to the options of either ‘banning or restricting’ credit card transactions across all forms of remote gambling.
“The preferred option for most who responded to the call for evidence was to prohibit gambling online with credit cards in order to achieve this aim. We will take the most appropriate course of action in view of any further evidence obtained during this consultation, alongside the data already submitted” – the UKGC details
In its update, the commission states that it requires evidence from e-wallets, in order to address concerns related to transparency, as operators have no means of which method of payment was used – ‘debit card, a credit card or a separate balance within the e-wallet’.
“We will be writing to e-wallet providers at the start of the consultation and we encourage them to consider, and provide details of, the solutions they can deliver to facilitate any regulatory change.”
Concluding its statement, the Commission underlines that it will enforce either a ‘prohibition or restriction on credit card wagering’ which will be enforced through changes to UK gambling’s ‘Licence Conditions-& Codes of Practice’ -LCCP‘ frameworks, likely to be implemented by next April, subject to its review of evidence.
