Gambling Commission regulatory burden call for evidence closes on 25 September

The Gambling Commission's call for evidence on cutting regulatory burdens closes on Friday, 25 September, giving operators until then to propose rules, guidance and reporting duties that could be simplified. The regulator opened the exercise on 26 June and describes it as a formal invitation to submit proposals rather than a consultation.

Rules, guidance and reporting in scope

Proposals can cover any part of gambling regulation, including the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), technical standards and the Commission's Statements of Principles. Firms can flag rules or guidance that no longer serve their purpose well because of the passage of time or other regulatory or legislative changes, and point to Commission processes that could be streamlined to cut the administrative cost of regulatory reporting. The Commission says it is open to suggestions on how it structures and communicates its requirements, guidance and expectations.

The regulator frames the exercise around proportionality: the cost to the industry of complying with the rules, and of showing compliance, should stay proportionate to the risks to consumers. It ties that to its Statement of Principles for Licensing and Regulation and to the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, which are keeping crime out of gambling, keeping gambling fair and open, and protecting children and vulnerable people from harm or exploitation.

Some proposals may touch on legislation, which sits outside the Commission's remit. The Commission says it will pass those to the relevant bodies, and it may advise the government on measures that only legislation could change. The exercise follows a commitment in its Business plan for 2026 to 2027, and the Commission has said it will review proposals where resources allow.

What is off the table

Two areas sit outside the call. The Commission is unlikely to consider detailed proposals on policies that have been through formal consultation where the outcome is not yet published, or on recently implemented changes that are still being evaluated. The Commission said it would revisit those only with "strong evidence of adverse consequences being realised".

The call should also not be used to propose new or additional consumer protection requirements of the kind introduced through the Gambling Act Review and the 2023 white paper, High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age. The Commission's position is that those measures have not yet been fully implemented or evaluated.

The industry view so far

What firms have actually filed is not clear from the public record. The one industry contribution on the record comes from Michael Clohisy, a sports attorney and adviser at Quintel Intelligence, who told European Gaming Industry News in June that operators should focus on duplicated administrative work, manual reporting and paperwork that automation could absorb.

"The goal is to reduce administrative costs and redundancies and tighten the guardrails on a fast-moving digital, AI-enabled gambling ecosystem to free up resources for human compliance teams to focus on high-risk accounts, AML anomalies, integrity/match-fixing, and cybersecurity," Clohisy said.

Clohisy's view is his own; the Commission has not endorsed it, and European Gaming Industry News does not name any operator submission.

How to submit, and what happens next

Submissions go through the Commission's online form, with one form for each proposal. Respondents can answer as few or as many questions as they wish, and the Commission asks for clear evidence where possible.

It will not respond to every proposal individually. Instead, it says it will set out publicly its plans and priorities for any actions it takes forward. Proposals to replace or streamline existing Commission controls could require consultation before they are implemented, and the Commission says any decision will depend on its resources and business planning and will need to be balanced against consumer protection.