The UKGC has come under criticism for allowing GVC Holdings to lead the development of a ‘code of conduct on high-value customers’ (VIP programmes).
MPs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Gambling Related Harm, criticised the UKGC’s decision revealed by Chief Executive Neil McArthur last week at the ‘CMS Gambling Conference’, addressing industry leadership on the UKGC’s 2020 agenda and objectives.
APPG Chair Carolyn Harris MP would brand the decision as a ‘conflict of interest’, and further detailed her disbelief that GVC Holdings a company fined £5.9 million in 2019 for AML and social responsibility failings would lead such a directive.
Harris’ criticism of the Commission would be supported by Conservative Party MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who underlined that the UKGC had yet again proved itself incapable of governing UK gambling.
Branding the UKGC’s decision as bizarre, Duncan Smith said “The Gambling Commission needs to be reformed. This really does show you where the thinking has gone completely wrong. It’s like putting the mafia in charge of looking into organised crime.”
Amid mounting criticism by APPG members, last week Neil McArthur defended the UKGC’s track record as a regulatory body, underling its commitment to raising industry standards and protecting consumers.
Open to working operators, McArthur challenged betting leadership to draft the foundations of a new code of conduct on engaging with high-value customers, which should be presented in time for the UKGC’s Spring’s Raising Standards Conference.
Source: SBC News
