UKGC Demands Licensees Drop Partnerships with Unlicensed Providers

Key Takeaways 💬

• The UKGC warns licensed operators and suppliers to avoid partnerships with unlicensed operators, as it undermines player protection and regulatory efforts.
• Companies distributing games to illegal markets risk breaching contracts and losing their licenses, with the UKGC urging immediate corrective actions.
• The regulator is taking a proactive approach, including potential test purchases, to identify and address compliance failures.

The post can be seen as a warning sign, especially after the news that Evolution would have their licence under review due to the connections with certain unlicensed operators.

The regulator took the opportunity to remind companies that unregulated operators often do not provide the same safeguards as are required by the properly licensed operators. This could negate the good work they do in terms of safeguarding players. The UKGC has asked licensed operators and suppliers alike to ensure they are not involved with the sector of unlicensed operators that are trying hard to get into the UK market in spite of not abiding by the rules.

Suppliers providing B2B gaming solutions, “including live games, live casinos and slots [… ] can help the Commission tackle the illegal market by reviewing their own practices,” the regulator explained in the blog post.

The same post explained that some companies were “distributing games supplied by operators to the illegal market, often in breach of their contractual obligations,”.

“Commission licensees may have been negligent in allowing them to do so and in the process, place their own licence at risk,” it added.

This is not the first time that the operators in the UK have been warned. UKGC’s CEO Andrew Rhodes last week explained to the International Association of Gaming Advisors that there needed to be further action.

He said: “I do not understand why anyone in the licensed industry would want to be in business with a company that is supporting illegal competition — it makes no sense to me at all and would suggest the illegal market is not the issue some suggest, if this was deemed acceptable.”

The message was clear and the operators were urged “where such activity is identified, setting out the preventative measures adopted to ensure such activity ceases immediately.

“Actively notifying the Commission and setting out a clear plan to mitigate the issue at pace is a minimum requirement.”

The UKGC does not want their good work to be undermined by licensees abusing their powers to allow partnerships with companies that don’t meet the same rigorous standards.

“The Commission is adopting a proactive approach to this matter and may decide at any point to conduct test purchasing activity to evidence potential breaches,” the UKGC blog post concluded.