The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has launched its first International Best Practice Guide, setting out new key policy objectives common to all regulators.
The guide offers a single body of evidence to ‘critically compare’ the wide variation in regulatory approaches to help inform decision making.
BGC CEO, Grainne Hurst, noted: “For the first time, the BGC has brought together the lessons, both positive and negative, which have been learned by operators and regulators around the world when it comes to the online gaming sector.”
The guide, commissioned by the BGC and compiled by professional services firm Alvarez and Marsal (A&M), takes a look at high channelisation by ensuring that as much gaming as possible takes place in the regulated market.
It also focuses on consumer protection, including by protecting young people and the vulnerable through robust safer gambling measures, as well as preserving consumer choice: by maintaining competition.
The final two focuses are on keeping gambling crime free (ensuring sporting integrity) as well as raising tax revenue by ensuring operators invest in the markets they operate in.
Described as a ‘vital new resource’ for online gaming operators and policymakers around the world, these core objectives are laid out directly for policymakers and the different approaches jurisdictions take to achieve them.
“This sector will no doubt continue to grow internationally, offering huge potential benefits to existing markets and those which are currently developing,” Hurst continued.
“Through effective regulation of this new growth sector, governments can achieve their core priorities of raising tax, boosting growth and jobs, while delivering high standards for player protection.
“In the UK, we have seen that firsthand, where balanced regulations have created a sector which raises billions in tax and investment in the economy, while supporting tens of thousands of jobs.
“But the risk posed by the wrong regulatory balance can undermine that good work, and give a foothold to the growing unsafe, illegal gambling black market, which is an ever-present threat in the UK.
“We are proud that BGC members are now a genuine global success story and a Great British export – that is the prize when the right regulatory foundations deliver sustainable success.
“If you are a policymaker navigating this new growth sector, or an operator seeking to broaden your international footprint, then this guide is for you.”
Meanwhile, Pierre Tournier, BGC International Director, described the online gaming market as a ‘complex landscape’ involving a huge range of potential regulatory choices and outcomes.
“But for too long there has been a crucial evidence gap when those choices are considered by policymakers,” Tournier explained. “Our ambition for this new guide is that it finally offers a solution to that problem.
“Drawing on the lessons from around the world, operators and policymakers, can take a global view of the pitfalls and benefits of different approaches, and make better policy decisions as a result.”
