The Government has issued a response to the consultation period held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on changes to Gambling Commission fees, part of an effort to help the regulator recover its costs and address regulatory challenges.
The consultation period ran from 27 January through 30 March, with a total of 47 responses received by DCMS, primarily consisting of gambling operators, suppliers or respective representatives.
An original proposal to alter the Gambling Commission’s licence fees called for either a 30% increase to fees, a 25% increase or a 25% increase which also included a 10% increase ringfenced for illegal markets, revenue protection and related activity.
The Gambling Commission will instead introduce a 25% increase to licence fees with the exception of society lotteries and general betting operating licences, which will now be adjusted to a market share-based approach based on gross gambling yield (GGY) rather than the number of days of operation.
The 25% increase will not be distributed evenly across all types of operating licences, however, as fees for personal licences, variations and changes of corporate control will increase by 25%, as well as fees for supplementary operating licences and single machine permits.
“The government remains supportive of structural changes to the Gambling Commission’s funding framework, to enable the regulator to set licence fees. However, primary legislation options to deliver this are currently limited. We are therefore focused on ensuring the Commission is able to meet its imminent challenges by using the current framework,” the response said.
On 29 June, the Gambling Commission asked stakeholders in the UK industry to reach out with proposals on how the agency could reduce any unnecessary regulatory burdens which are currently impacting the industry.
Potential proposals could include licence conditions and codes of practice, technical standards, reporting processes or any other additional interactions across the regulatory framework.
The Gambling Commission published new research and accompanying insights from Amandeep Manku, Senior Research and Statistics Analyst, on the impacts of gambling harm in June
