October 3, 2018

The Gambling Commission has issued new standards for complaints processes in the gambling industry. The standards, which come into effect later this month on 31 October, aim to provide licensees with guidance on consumer complaints handling.

In line with the Gambling Commissions 2018 – 2021 strategy, the new standards are primarily a product of a review of complaints processes in the gambling industry conducted in 2016-17 by the Commission in which the regulator looked at how licensees handle customer complaints and focussed specifically on how the provision of alternative dispute resolution services is working in the industry.

The new standards include:

• Definitive categories of complaints (e.g. gambling-related complaints such as a gambling transaction; or a dispute linked to the terms of a bonus offer);
• The information and level of customer service ADR providers give to consumers;
• Information about the role of the ADR provider in complaints processes;
• General principles for considering compensation;
• Good practice guidelines including the Ombudsman Association’s (OA) six principles of good governance;
• Conflicts of interest;
• Expectations (including response times) for complaints handling by ADR providers

These new standards not only focus on licensees meeting their regulatory requirements but their introduction also reinforces the Commission’s wider strategy to raise standards in the gambling industry and put the consumer ‘at the heart’ of businesses.