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Originally Posted by PokerXanadu
Thanks for the update. Do you think the UKGC is doing a good job of protecting poker players?
I think they are making some (slow) progress. I also think that they are doing more than anybody else. As you know I am a fan of the UK legislative regime but I also think there is a lot more they could and should be doing.
A few things IRL like moving house and being ill have kind of slowed my relentless nagging of them on these issues but the conclusion of this consultation and the clear statements from the UKGC that they are actively monitoring these issues and may issue further guidelines gives me an excuse to start campaigning again with them.
My biggies were better self exclusion and getting them to take poker seriously as in developing special requirements in the RTS and LCCP beyond the previous call to prevent collusion. This is a big step forward in reporting and shows they are looking at the unique poker issues in far more depth. It is also clear that they are not 100% happy with all the poker sites attitudes and processes today, or indeed with their input to the consultation.
Poker is now permanently on the agenda and the new requirement to report on every case where accounts are closed is a big step forward in terms of visibility for botting, collusion, third party software abuse etc etc as every case gets reported as an offence. My guess is that following Oct 1st the UKGC will find that these reports just keep coming, showing the importance of the issue and skewing their "offence" numbers significantly. it will push poker up the agenda further.
The alternative - (some) sites not finding a problem and not reporting on closed accounts and "offences" is worse for those sites, it would just show that they are not meeting the requirement to detect and deter that is now a licence requirement. They need to keep reviewing their processes so not finding cheaters at their site will just bring regulatory scrutiny on them.
It's a big step forward, I just want a lot more steps. The best news is hidden in the detail - the requirement of the reporting is to report all closed accounts, the financial impact and people affected but also which of those people were playing reliant upon the UKGC licence - this makes it explicit that the reporting is for global poker, the UKGC will be getting data on pretty much all online poker, OK not the US facing, but all the big providers for their whole player pool.