UKGC outlines new Industry Forum

The UK Gambling Commission has confirmed that it is launching a new Industry Forum that will seek to expand its collaboration with the industry that the watchdog is tasked with regulating. As part of the forum, the regulator will discuss potential changes, gather insights, and generally ensure that consumers continue to be protected through concerted efforts.

The new Industry Forum will be part of a number of initiatives and advisory groups established by the regulator and serving for the betterment of the industry. Some of the already established initiatives include such prominent and well-known projects as the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling, the Digital Advisory Panel, the Lived Experience Advisory Panel, and others, the regulator stated in a press statement.

The UKGC will also seek to appoint a Chair of the Industry Forum who will hold a three-year stint. The recruitment of the right candidate for the position will begin this month and further details about the forum will be forthcoming.

Marcus Boyle, UKGC Chair, said that this new initiative will help the regulator to further engage with the industry it is tasked with regulating and reach meaningful and impactful results.

Industry stakeholders, representatives, and people who are involved in the sector in one way or another will be able to communicate their opinions of pressing matters, as the gambling framework in the country is undergoing a major overhaul which will see changes to the way financial checks are carried out and what obligations licensees must meet to comply with existing regulation.

The forum will also consist of ten members who will be direct representatives of the industry, and who will have to demonstrate a significant understanding of the sector, and an ability to address the dynamic regulatory changes, consumer-focused aspects of regulation, and overall course of action.

All of this will serve the ultimate purpose of creating more effective regulation, but also seek to have the input of the industry and allow the watchdog to move forward with changes to the existing framework more determinedly in those events when rapid changes are necessary.

Previously, the UKGC has addressed a series of misconceptions about financial checks, a highly debated and often divisive subject that has pitted industry stakeholders against each other. In a recent report shared by the regulator, the regulator tried to elaborate on how such checks would work, who would they apply to, and what the obligations of operators would be in such cases.

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