Tim Miller
5 QUESTIONS
The Great Britain Gambling Commission controls every aspect of the gaming business in the U . K ( Ireland has a separate commission ). Tim Miller , it ’ s executive director of research , spoke about the complex process of overseeing such a diverse industry when he spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros at the ICE trade show and conference in London in February . For a full video and audio version of the interview , visit GGBMagazine . com .
1
GGB : Can you give us a scope of what the UK Gambling Commission regulates and how you oversee it ? Miller : We have a really broad jurisdiction , so we are the single regulator for all gambling in Britain . That ’ s online , land-based , lottery , and racetracks . We obviously have a really broad , diverse industry .
2
You just released details on the gross gambling yield , which is also called gross gaming revenue in some other jurisdictions . Explain what happened with this year ’ s gross gambling yield and how it compares to previous years . The most recent set of figures was ₤ 15.1 billion in the second quarter , which , for a country the size of the U . K ., is quite significant , and is indeed a record level of GY . So I think it shows that actually the gambling industry here is pretty resilient , despite the challenges that came from the pandemic . We have seen good examples of recovery , though we ’ re not blind to the fact that there are parts of the industry that still struggle .
3
We noticed that when you looked at the actual premises where people gamble that ’ s still down over 18 percent from pre-pandemic levels . What do you think the reason for that is ? I think there are a couple of reasons . One is that during the pandemic , we saw generally consumer behaviors change — not just in gambling , but if you look across the board , online shopping , for example , fewer people go to supermarkets than they used to . The pandemic just changed the way we all act as consumers . And I think you ’ ve seen some of that in gambling — a bit of channel shift going to online gambling . I think it ’ s indicative as well that in the U . K ., we have a healthy , vibrant gambling market where you can choose different products , different channels to gamble . So consumers had lots of different choices , and they have been exercising that choice .
4
You also just recently released a report on the gambling funds raised for good causes .
Can you explain what good causes are ? The two areas this comes through : One is in terms of the National Lottery . A lot of good causes are supported by our National Lottery . It was the reason the government set up the lottery in the early ’ 90s — to generate funds for good causes . We see a whole range of good causes benefiting from local community products to things like our Olympic athletes . The reason Britain has had some real success in the Olympics over recent years has been in large part due to good-cause money from lotteries .
Similarly , we expect gambling companies to provide a voluntary contribution to support research , education , and treatment services . That ’ s something that ’ s undergoing a period of reform at the moment . The government is bringing in a statutory levy to fund those services in the future . But it ’ s just another example of where a range of different good causes do receive money from the gambling industry .
5
Tim Miller
Executive Director of Research , Great Britain Gambling Commission
How do you do research into problem gambling in the U . K ., and how does it compare with other countries ? We have a wide range of ways we do it . One of the important roles that we have in terms of being a regulator is we are the official statistics body on behalf of the British government . So we carry out surveys to measure participation rates and the rate of problem gambling . And actually , it ’ s a really important time for us in this . We are in the process of rolling out a brand-new approach to doing that which will shortly be going live , known as the Gambling Survey of Great Britain . It will be the biggest survey of its kind anywhere in the world . When it ’ s fully operational , we ’ ll be surveying around 20,000 consumers a year , and that gives us a really comprehensive picture of what people are gambling on , what levels of harm and what types of harm that we ’ re seeing . And that gives us a really strong evidence base to inform our regulation .
“ They Said It ”
“ I believe a golden opportunity has been missed to pass a modern law on illicit gambling in line with the importance of Macau ’ s gambling sector .”
— António Lobo Vilela , Macau gaming expert , on a bill to combat illegal gaming that he says lacks preventive measures
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8 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2024