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<p>The Gambling Commission’s role is to license and regulate commercial gambling in
Great Britain, advising the Government on matters relating to gambling and ensuring
that operators abide by strict requirements intended to keep gambling fair and open
and crime free and to protect children and vulnerable people.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Operators
providing gambling facilities to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the
Commission and comply with the conditions of their operating licences. It expects
them to obey the laws of all other jurisdictions in which they operate, and requires
them to report any regulatory investigation or finding into their activities in any
other jurisdiction. They must inform the Commission if they have a substantial customer
base outside of Britain and state why they consider they are legally able to offer
facilities to those customers.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Requiring the Commission
to complete, publish and maintain a jurisdiction by jurisdiction legal analysis of
a range of combinations of products and supply arrangements would require a significant
expenditure of resource in an area which does not relate to its core responsibility
to regulate gambling in Great Britain. The Commission considers it is for operators
to satisfy themselves that they are acting in a lawful manner in other jurisdictions
and if they are found not to be, it will re-assess their suitability to hold a licence
to offer gambling services in Britain.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Commission’s
list of research, prevention and treatment organisations is intended to give clarity
to operators on where they may direct funding to satisfy the licence condition requirement
of an annual financial contribution. It requires organisations on the list to demonstrate
suitable independent oversight, such as regulation by the Charity Commission, and
to make a commitment to collaborate with other bodies in order to prioritise actions
to reduce gambling harms.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In March 2020 the Commission
amended its licence conditions and codes of practice to make it mandatory for operators
to be integrated to GAMSTOP, the multi-operator self-exclusion scheme. The charity
GambleAware has commissioned the first phase of a study to assess the impact of multi-operator
self-exclusion schemes, including those for online gambling. This first phase is nearing
publication and we will consider its findings carefully.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The
Advisory Board for Safer Gambling’s Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce
Gambling Harms made a number of recommendations on gambling-related suicide, but these
are within the remit of bodies other than the Commission. The Government is considering
the report carefully.</p><p> </p>
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