Recent reports claim that the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) requires gambling enthusiasts to go through more financial assessments. However, the Chief Executive of the regulator, Andrew Rhodes, has denied that the UKGC is accountable for it.
Speaking at the World Regulatory Briefing hosted by ICE, Rhodes adamantly denied that the UKGC demands more rigorous checks. He declared that the regulator had not asked operators to implement wide-reaching assessments. Still, he did affirm that assessing a customer's financial standing at the best online mobile casinos is always a part of the operator's obligations.
Rhodes further dismissed the notion that affordability checks could harm the gaming market. This is despite YouGov's survey, which the UKGC typically uses for research, indicating a drop in earnings.
Recently, UK gamblers have been facing greater scrutiny from operators. It has been reported that these individuals must provide bank statements and tax records for themselves and their associates or relatives.
Rhodes asserted that gaming operators are responsible for detecting those potentially in danger of problem gambling, indicating that the recent influx of strange requests is due to this. He clarified that the UKGC does not require gambling companies to request bank statements, payslips, or other personal financial information from bettors and gamblers.
It's to be noted that the UK Gambling Commission has been acting tough on operators who fail to implement anti-money laundering and financial verification policies. The regulator gathered significant sums of money in penalties and "settlements" from operators for various malfunctions.
The latest casualty, In Touch Games, was fined £6.1 million for multiple failings. Therefore, it's only logical that operators feel pressure from the regulator to gather the data to dodge fines.
Rhodes remains convinced that the diminishing gambling expenditure in the UK is due to stricter regulations from the body. But British legislators insist that the UKGC is overstepping its boundaries.
