M ONT H I N M I NUT ES
RIGHT TO
LESSONS LEARNED
FROM FULL TILT SAGA?
JASON CHESS
WIGGIN LLP PARTNER AND
GAMING EXPERT
The consultation published by the
UK Gambling Commission last
month proposes to extend the
UK’s existing Licence Conditions
and Codes of Practice to offshore
remote gambling operators who
take business from British players.
One area where the Commission
has not issued particularly strong
requirements is in the area of player
deposit protection. The Commission
watched aghast as the Full Tilt saga
unfolded under AGCC regulation
and it became clear that the
operator did not have the ability to
cash out its customers.
One would have thought that
if the UK point-of-consumption
regime was really about consumer
care it would have concentrated on
this area. Instead the Commission
has laid down the most minimal
requirement – that player funds and
operators’ working capital to be
kept in separate accounts. No trust
is required, either over the account
or as a standalone matter and no
formal capital ratios or insurances
are imposed either.
The consultation imposes
intensive reporting requirements
and a need for UK personal
management licences and so it looks
as if what may be lacking in terms of
regulation in this area may partly be
offset by the depth of reporting.
Of course, reporting is only as
good as the probity of the persons
providing the report. One wonders
whether the e-literacy of players is
such that they will take on board
the signi?cance of the PDP ratings
in among all the other iconography
on a site or whether they will simply
assume, as the blogs amply reveal
was the case for Full Tilt depositors,
that the licensee of a reputable
jurisdiction should always be able to
return their money to them.
8
MONTH IN
NUMB3RS
50
Number of
operators listed in
eGaming Review’s
annual Power
rankings
Read the full list
starting on p28
160
Number of online
gambling websites
now on Bulgarian
regulator’s blacklist
Read our analysis
on p19
€0.1m
Trading surplus
reported for GVC’s
Sportingbet
business, which
was previously
running at an
annual loss of
£39.1m Read our
interview with
GVC boss on p25
3
Number of profit
warnings issued by
Ladbrokes over the
course of 2013
Read news story
on p14
FAMILY
TREE
PADDY
POWER
Paddy Power has recently seen
the departure of its head of
operations and is currently
recruiting for a new head of
PaddyPower.com
www.egrmagazine.com