UKGC CEO speech at ICE 2025 – our take
At the ICE 2025 World Regulatory Briefing in Barcelona on 21 January, UKGC CEO Andrew Rhodes delivered an informative speech.
Although ICE (International Casinos Exhibition) is a global conference, Rhodes focused on British gambling, emphasising that “these issues and perspectives are shared” by regulators around the world.
Subjects which Rhodes touched on in his speech included the general state of the British industry, White Paper Review progress, illegal gambling, transparency standards, and how the Commission’s evidence-based regulation policy has caused some friction.
Industry in pretty good shape
Rhodes kicked off with a bit of good news. Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) has reached a record £15.6 billion – the data revealing a stable participation rate of 48% of British adults.
Rhodes described how, despite participation and spending being relatively high, there will still be “winners and losers” due to shifts in consumer preferences. These winners include providers of slots, whose popularity continues to grow, and large scale lotteries, which have now passed the £1 billion sales mark. Prize draws are also increasingly popular.
In terms of sports betting, the data reveals a shifting preference towards a more diverse range of sports, including US sports. This “smooths the seasonality of gambling to some extent”, which is good news for sportsbook providers.
Gambling spend not keeping up with inflation
One negative point which Rhodes highlighted is that consumer spending on gambling doesn’t track in line with inflation. Gambling “has often weathered economic downturn pretty well”, but recent rises in inflation have not been matched by consumer spend.
Two years since White Paper
Rhodes pointed out that it is almost two years since the UK Government published the Gambling Act Review White Paper.
In this time, the UKGC has approved stake limits, background checks, and a mandatory levy, all of which have caused more than a little controversy.
Rhodes expanded briefly on the implementation of White Paper policy, but did not deliver a particularly detailed update.
The governmental shift resulting from the 2024 general election does not appear to have prompted any significant shift in regulatory direction.
There are more changes to come, with Games Machine Technical Standards being a current area of focus.
Tackling illegal operators
Next, Rhodes turned his attention to a particularly troubling issue at the moment: “It is one thing setting the direction for the licenced market. It is quite another to do so for illegal gambling.”
Rhodes highlighted the fact that black market operators are “more likely to either cheat those people who gamble with them or leave them open to higher risks of harm.” The Commission has been ramping up its efforts to tackle rising illegal gambling, and intensified actions against illegal operators.
Prevention objective
The regulator’s current objective is “to prevent the illegal market from operating at scale in Great Britain”. This is a step in the right direction, while acknowledging the likelihood that there will always be some level of illegal gambling.
Rhodes’ plan is, in a sense, to cut off the head, by spending resources on targeting providers of illegal gambling as far up the chain as possible. He mentions those “at the level of hosts, payment providers, software providers, search engines and others”. The UKGC only has so many resources, and it can’t afford to spread itself too thin, so this approach makes sense.
Recent successes
The UKGC has scored a few wins in the past year. Rhodes claims that the regulator has “issued over 770 cease and desist, and disruption notices”. It has also “referred over 102,000 URLs to Google” resulting in 64,000 URLs and 264 websites being taken down.
This is not insignificant, but the Commission's powers are limited, and it’s not difficult for illegal operators to simply re-brand and re-launch.
Rhodes urged licensed operators to “ensure they have undertaken due diligence regarding their own activities and those of any suppliers”.
International collaboration
Rhodes closed his illegal gambling segment with an assurance that the UKGC has been working closely with international regulators to prevent illegal gambling, via the Illegal Gambling Working Group.
There’s no denying that the presence of illegal gambling is not only troubling, especially in certain European countries, but that it’s difficult to root out. The international cooperation of regulators, such as that referred to by Rhodes, is vital. The good news is that the Illegal Gambling Working Group now operates on every continent.
Transparency and fairness: a two-way street?
In addition to the above, says Rhodes, the Commission's central focus will be on ensuring that gambling is “Fair and Open”.
There’s a hint of hypocrisy about this, which is likely to be detected by those who remember the UKGC’s efforts to bury survey data that revealed wide public disapproval of background checks.
Ensuring fairness is an increasingly complex matter. Rhodes points to “large-scale identity misuse by organised gangs, more routine bonus abuse and multi-accounting as well as a range of other issues, including AI Know Your Customer (KYC) spoofing”. Cooperative and transparent operators will help the Commission to deal with these cases.
Facing rising levels of AI-use and associated fraud, the Commission and operators have their work cut out. Collaboration, transparency and data sharing are undoubtedly key to overcoming this.
Friction and data collection
Debates surrounding gambling regulation remain polarised and heated. To his credit, Rhodes doesn’t shy away from this in his speech, acknowledging that “the debate about gambling, gambling regulation, personal freedom, and, on the other hand, consumer protection, is often tense”.
Survey
One example of a contentious area is the introduction of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). Rhodes re-asserts the UKGC’s stance on evidence-based regulation. He has previously hailed the GSGB as the best solution for gathering data.
The GSGB methodology has been criticised by some, but the general consensus is that it will provide regular, robust, broad, actionable data. The GSGB’s predecessor, the Health Survey, was “very good in its time” but is “just not sustainable in this day and age”.
Alluding to these criticisms, Rhodes said, “Estimates of problem gambling are important [...] but we also need the widest evidence base possible and everyone should recognise the nuances in consumer experiences.”
Looking ahead
At the start of his speech, Rhodes defined his idea of progress for the industry as development that is “in the interest of consumers and operators alike”.
The Commission has mountains to climb, particularly in the area of preventing illegal gambling. It must also complete the implementation of the White Paper Review in a way that is responsible but not stifling to the industry.
Rhodes’ speech makes clear, particularly by referencing the record high GGY, that, if the UKGC can overcome these main hurdles, the British gambling industry will have a bright and productive future ahead of it.