Tim Miller, Gambling Commission Executive Director of Research and Policy; and Ewa Bakun, ICE Research Institute, both took to the stage at iGB Live to discuss the latest developments in the Gambling Commission.
The topic of Miller leaving the Commission was raised immediately, something that we covered earlier this week.
However, the Sustainable Gambling Zone – the area the talk was held in – was initially Miller’s idea.
“The Sustainable Gambling Zone is my third child,” he joked to the crowd, before explaining that for years, responsible gambling was just a “box to be ticked” for many companies.
Nowadays, companies take greater pride in safer gambling measures and push the idea a lot further.
Miller explained that, compared to a few years ago, major financial penalties are fewer and far between now and there is a “much more genuine drive to do the right thing.”
There are also so many people who have joined the industry with the intention of helping people and who love their jobs within responsible gambling.
On the topic of the controversial risk assessments, Miller said that they are “not throwing a trawler net over all customers”, but trying to implement measures to help out the most at-risk customers.
People also do not want to give financial documents, such as bank statements, to gambling companies, “and we hear that.”
Miller continued: “We have been criticised for rushing into this; we have been criticised for taking too long.”
However, regulators around the world are watching these pilots with keen interest to see how they unfold.
Finding the illegal sites is not the problem, he explained, but it is stopping them in the first place that is causing the biggest issues.
“Tech companies are failing the British public,” he said, referring to Meta.
But when it comes to illegal gambling, Miller made a very interesting point.
“It’s not just gambling, these illegal organisations are part of drug trafficking, sex trafficking and other international crimes. One little regulator in Birmingham cannot take this on alone.”
He did expect gamification to be taken further for responsible gambling tools, and seemed disappointed that it was not.
“Let’s make safer gambling sexy!” Bakun laughed.
“10 years ago, I could not have known how fulfilling this role would be,” Miller said. “There is no better feeling than knowing you’re changing lives.”
He joked about how he initially wanted to join a “proper” regulator, but that he has seen first hand the help and positive influences he has created through his role.
Miller lamented on how the UK was expected to employ geoblocking technology more effectively, but that VPN tech moved quicker than could
