Tim Miller will be saying goodbye to the Gambling Commission (UKGC) come September, but not to the sector. At iGB Live, he explains to NEXT.io why he believes a new gambling act is unnecessary as the regulator enters the “next phase in its life”.
Looking at the nameplates on the doors of the UKGC’s Birmingham offices, it would seem to be a period of great upheaval and uncertainty. The regulator is currently headed up by an ‘acting CEO’ and an ‘interim chair,’ and now Miller, executive director of policy and research, is readying to empty his own desk.
Throw in the resignation of Keir Starmer as prime minister, and suddenly there is a sense of both uncertainty and opportunity within Britain’s gambling sector.
Miller tries to dampen any concern in this area, suggesting that he doesn’t see “massive changes” on the horizon. He told NEXT.io: “Generally over the last 10 years there’s been relatively broad political consensus on the topic of gambling. There was a fairly unified view that more needed to be done to protect consumers. I think there’s a fairly shared view that we also need to address the risks from the illegal market.”
Miller has indeed outlasted huge external upheaval. His 10-year stretch with the regulator spans three Conservative governments and six prime ministers, and also takes in the Gambling Act review and the 2023 White Paper’s 60 recommendations.
Miller remembers the six prime ministers he’s survived, but can’t put a number on how many gambling ministers and secretaries of state he’s worked with – despite the merry-go-round, he says none of it “has really shifted us off course.”
But with Alex Ballinger MP this week taking the opportunity to advocate for an entirely new Gambling Act to replace that of 2005, is it credible that the inherent stability and consensus that Miller references can continue?
He will leave it to parliament to decide if a new gambling act is pursued or not, but he is sceptical that there’s any need.
In fact, he can’t point to any significant examples where the existing legislation has prevented the commission from regulating the industry well.
“It hasn’t acted as a massive barrier to us. There are always going to be tweaks you can make, but in terms of us doing our job, we are getting on with it. And I don’t think we’re standing there waiting for a new piece of legislation to feel that we can do our jobs effectively.”
I am a rock, I am an island
If indeed the commission needs little help from legislators to act effectively, there remains the issue of who is operationally in charge and what their long-term vision will be.
Because despite Miller’s assurances, he acknowledges that with all the departures, the Gambling Commission appears to be entering the “next phase in its life”.
CEO Andrew Rhodes left in April and has since joined new British consultancy firm Hawkbridge, where he will advise operators on compliance and regulatory matters.
Some thought this was not a good look, but Iain Duncan Smith took perhaps the dimmest of all views, suggesting that the move was a “clear conflict of interest.”
This view was largely an outlier, however, as many others saw no major problem with Rhodes’ transition to the private sector, although there is broad recognition that the optics are awkward.
Miller will not be found on the British consultancy circuit, instead seeming set to take his experience to more distant shores, but he thinks it’s right and proper that there be robust systems in place to prevent any conflicts of interest.
“I don’t think there should necessarily be a complete block on people ever moving from regulator to industry and vice versa, so long as those protections are in place. Because regulators can benefit from drawing upon industry knowledge, and the reverse is also true. If we want a compliant industry, having people in that industry that know what good regulation and good compliance looks like is important,” he suggests.
Miller’s own next steps will be “to take learnings as to what works and what doesn’t work from the UK to support other developing jurisdictions.”
As for the UK, he believes whoever replaces Rhodes permanently will need a “very, very clear sense of direction, vision and big thinking to succeed.”
The management of the statutory levy has been extremely tumultuous thus far, but its existence will free up the regulator’s next leader in other areas, according to Miller.
He claims that now: “Actually, as a regulator, we have less of a role in that space. I do think, you know, it will be an opportunity for an incoming chief exec to set out what path the commission needs to take to take us into this new world, make best use of technology and to deal with the new risks that might be coming.”
Is the Commission doing enough on enforcement?
In terms of the black market, Miller referenced the arguments that have been playing out over the past few weeks.
Whichever way he thinks about it, he says the commission must enforce the law of the land against both the licensed and unlicensed market where necessary.
Money is being pumped into the commission to deal with illegal operators, and an illegal gambling taskforce has been set up. The results will take time to appear, but Miller is clearly excited about the “rapid escalation” of what is happening behind the scenes to disrupt the black market.
On the other side of the coin, Betfred received its third fine in nine months last week. We asked Miller at what point stronger action would be required, and he affirmed his belief in the “powerful tools that are available to us.”
He added: “It’s financial penalties that capture the headlines, but the reality is there’s a range of other approaches that we take that can often be much more impactful.”
He cites conditions that have been put on licensees and the enforcement of independent third-party audits as examples, before indicating that there had been a significant uptick in the number of licences suspended across online casino and the land-based sector in the past 12 months.
Looking around the cohort of B2B suppliers and affiliate stands at iGB Live, Miller conceded: “The compliance record of the industry is not yet completely where it needs to be, but I think credit where it’s due, it has moved on considerably over time. The really big egregious breaches that we saw are not really coming through now, but where there continue to be regulatory breaches, we’ll continue to take action.”
Feet in both camps
Miller believes there are “undoubtedly” suppliers and affiliates whose operations blur the lines of legality.
In June, a lords liaison committee heard Will Prochaska’s allegation that some Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) members had been supplying games to known black market sites.
The BGC held that game cloning and IP theft by bad actors could be to blame for the appearance of those games, though there aren’t many that have spent more than a few hours analysing the industry who would find Prochaska’s accusation categorically unbelievable.
Tim Miller has spent 10 years doing so and says he thinks both are happening. “But as is often the case in most things around gambling, both are probably being overstated at times.”
The real challenge, he maintains, is building the evidence base to a point that reaches the criminal standard of proof.
He said: “Frankly, people can whack out bits of research and put blogs on websites that say, ‘oh, we’ve found all of these sites, and that clearly shows that licensed operators are operating in the black market.’ But that level of work does not kind of cut the mustard when it comes to bringing criminal prosecution.”
In these comments, there appears to be a tacit acceptance that the commission is not, as Miller admits, where it wants to be on compliance, enforcement, or the black market.
A disconnect exists between what is known and accepted to be happening, and what can be done about it.
Is the sheer size of Britain’s domestic market unmanageable, then? And has the aim to permit given regulators an issue that only rapid technological advancement can solve?
Miller explains: “Other regulators I speak to are flabbergasted by the sheer number of licensed operators that we have in this market here, so I think there is a permissive element to it. But our licensing objectives are key in balancing that and making sure that people are properly protected.”
For the departing executive, the size of the British market is something to be proud of, and he exudes an excitement and ambition for the future that is perhaps easier to display when you know that it will soon no longer be your job to manage the multi-faceted challenges of non-compliance and illegality.
