London conference report
of the 2005 Gambling Act would have been published and would be the main talking point of the event. With the derailing of Boris Johnson and liz Truss’s premierships, this has taken a back seat (and may be abandoned altogether) but there was no shortage of information about the future shape of the UK gambling market. The opening keynote speaker was Brigid Simmonds, chair of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the industry body representing the leading gambling operators in the UK. She pointed to the group’s work in raising standards and driving down problem gambling to 0.2 percent of the total number of players. This was in contrast to other European jurisdictions where regulation was working against the stated objectives of legislators. In Norway where the state holds the monopoly for gambling, 66 percent of players do so offshore.
Similarly in France, where online gaming is illegal and 57 percent of punters play offshore. Bulgaria, with its high tax rate, and Italy, where advertising is banned, suffer similarly low channelization rates. This compares to the UK where the regulated market has no major restrictions but where only just over two percent of online gambling takes place offshore. Simmonds pointed to engagement by the BGC with government to head off what she called “well-intended, but ill-judged changes to regulation”. She was hopeful that the forthcoming White Paper, whenever it was published, would avoid measures which would reduce the size of the regulated market and associated tax revenues and drive people towards the black market with none of the protections of the regulated market. Despite Ms Simmonds assertion that there had been deep engagement with the UK regulator and great efforts to win over a sceptical media/public, numerous panellists expressed the view that the PR battle in the UK and Europe had either not been taken seriously enough or had been lost altogether. Speaker after speaker warned that the regulatory tide was going out leaving consumers potentially unprotected and operators in the regulated market facing higher costs and competition from the grey market. They encouraged industry players to build stronger relationships with regulators to help secure the industry’s prospects for the future. This was particularly clear during a session on regulation versus innovation. a better balance between regulation and innovation. Panellists pointed to examples of unregulated tech companies like Google and Facebook which rolled out hundreds of iterations to their platforms every day. By contrast, betting apps were soon left with poor functionality and looking antiquated as regulations disuade operators from keeping pace with consumer expectations. Whilst the mood may have been somewhat gloomy among attendees from Europe’s mature markets, the same was not the case elsewhere. There were several sessions dedicated to Emerging Markets panel and these were particularly upbeat. They were complemented by another session which focused on the cultural sensitivities required to take advantage of newly opening jurisdictions making it a truly expansive programme. A panel dedicated to emerging technology completed the picture and showed that it is not just geographically where new opportunities abound. It is these sessions that we summarize in the forthcoming pages.
Chair of the organising committee, Susan Breen welcomed attendees.
8 • IMGL Magazine • November 2022
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