Regulatory environment

UK regulation

In the UK, legislation was complex and piecemeal until the Gambling Act 2005 came into force in September 2007.

Background (pre-2007)

The first major Act of Parliament regarding the gambling industry was the 1968 Gaming Act. Before that, the industry was relatively unregulated. The 1968 Act set out broad provisions and principles which subjected British casino operations to highly restrictive measures, and effectively prevented them from any form of marketing. The Gaming Board for Great Britain was responsible for overseeing the Act, reporting to the Home Office. In 2001, it was transferred to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Gambling Act 2005 and the Gambling Commission

This Act repealed most of the existing laws relating to gambling in Great Britain, replacing them with an improved, more comprehensive structure of gambling regulation. A new body, the Gambling Commission, was set up to regulate all commercial gambling in Great Britain apart from spread betting and the National Lottery.

The Act has three licensing objectives, central to the regulatory regime, which underpin the functions that the Gambling Commission and public authorities acting in their capacity as licensing authorities perform. These licensing objectives are:

• to keep crime out of gambling;
• to ensure that gambling is conducted fairly and openly; and
• to protect children and vulnerable people.

Three types of licences are required by the Act:

• an operator licence concerned with the management and conduct of gambling;
• a personal licence for persons with key operational functions connected with the gambling business; and
• a premises licence for the property where the gambling takes place.`

Operator licences and personal licences are issued and regulated by the Gambling Commission.

International

Along with other UK companies, William Hill's ambitions on an international scale are limited by a complicated and ever-changing legal and regulatory situation in Europe.

A high proportion of gaming industries in the EU are protected monopolies within their national boundaries. These monopolies are formally justified by the member states in question on the basis that such market constraints protect their citizens from problem gambling.

The EU's policy of the free movement of goods and services has often been used to challenge these state-owned gambling monopolies by online gaming companies wanting to operate in these markets. Some countries have therefore amended their gambling laws to bring them in line with EU principles, while there are several others, including Germany, France, Holland and Denmark, that are currently under pressure from the European Commission to follow suit.

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