Gambling Commission outlines expectations on account withdrawals

The regulator continues to receive complaints about friction in the withdrawal process.

UK.- The Gambling Commission (UKGC) has notified online gambling licensees of its expectations for compliance on customer account withdrawals. Noting that the regulator had listed delays to withdrawals as an action point in its annual business plan, CEO Andrew Rhodes said it continued to receive around 2,000 complaints a year on the issue.

Rhodes said the regulator had ordered operators to amend terms and conditions to require ID verification before customers make deposits, avoiding delaying it until a customer seeks to withdraw funds. He warned that introducing friction in the withdrawal process or putting commercial interests above those of customers constituted a compliance breach.

“Operators often do not provide their customers with any reason as to why they are requesting additional information from them. They sometimes advise customers that information is being requested ‘for regulatory purposes’”, the regulator noted.

Rhodes said the regulator would continue to monitor compliance. He stressed that licensees must provide accurate guidance and fair terms and conditions for the criteria of customer information requests and the procedure for delaying withdrawals and confiscating funds. On the latter issue, the regulator said it had been made aware that “operators sometimes seek to confiscate the whole of a customer’s deposit balance, either because they suspect that the account is associated with criminal activity or because they think their own terms and conditions have been breached.”

It said operators must meet the rules of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) by reporting known or suspected money laundering to the NCA and waiting for consent before proceeding with transactions. Confiscating or returning funds without submitting a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) and obtaining a Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) can result in breaches under the POCA or the Terrorism Act 2000.

New Gambling Survey for Great Britain

Last week, the Gambling Commission made a clarification regarding the format of its new Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). It said that its first annual report on the GSGB, to be published on July 25, will be based on data from 10,000 responses collected in two waves between July 2023 and February 2024. However, future annual reports will be based on 20,000 responses collected in four waves throughout the calendar year.