UKGC emphasises international cooperation

The UK Gambling Commission’s (UKGC) executive director, Tim Miller, has announced the organisation’s efforts to establish Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with US regulators.

Speaking in Las Vegas, Miller explained that the MOUs’ aims are to strengthen the relationship between the UKGC and its US counterparts along with promoting a more holistic collaboration.

Co-operation

Miller also emphasised the importance of operators working together to prevent unruly behaviour and harm across the gambling industry.

This is a particularly important point when considering operators may cooperate in one jurisdiction and not another.

In this sense, collaborative efforts between regulators can create a healthier international gambling market, addressing any regulatory blind spots.

Miller stated on the matter:

“By working together and committing to collaboration, we can make sure we each achieve the safer, fairer and crime-free gambling that we want for our jurisdictions and for our consumers.”

Memoranda of understanding

These MOUs with US regulators are set to facilitate cooperation in applying pressures to third parties facilitating black market gambling.

It is hoped that these MOUs may represent a new era of gambling regulation, aligning with ongoing reforms in the UK.

This began earlier this year with the publication of the gambling whitepaper proposals, a document which is now subject to several regulatory consultations.

These are being carried out in an attempt to revolutionise the UK gambling sector and modernise the legislation surrounding it.

To Millers’ point elsewhere, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is also pursuing cooperation with the government of Curaçao with the intention of combating unlicensed operators.

Holdouts

Despite this seemingly international agreement on cooperation, Malta has been a notable outlier, as the archipelago passed Bill 55 which has restricted the regulator’s ability to impose judgement on Malta-licenced companies.

Unsurprisingly this decision was heavily criticised by European regulators especially due to its nature as obtuse towards the cooperation many nations are attempting to forge.

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