The UKGC has launched its latest consultation and this time there is a chunk of poker specific stuff that the Calvin Ayre site summarises well

http://calvinayre.com/2016/10/27/bus...ampaign=buffer

The consultation document is here:
http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk...nsultation.pdf

The deadline for submissions is 17 January 2017.

My immediate reaction is that they need to

1)add in some stuff on data abuse (informing players its banned and detecting it/detering it).
2) Require sites to warn that poker cheating is a criminal offence
3) Look at licencing third party software suppliers

It also talks about how the UKGC will be producing guidelines on reporting integrity issue & compensation stuff - this gives us an in to ask for industry wide information to be published showing level of investigations, account closures, compensation paid, funds seized.

They also make clear that the CMA investigation
https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/online-gambling is likely to result in further changes to the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards (RTS) to deal with unfair Ts & Cs.

Already posted in your NVG thread about the bots/confiscated funds sections so I won't repeat that here. If (and it might be a big "if"!) the UKGC actually implement this well it could be a huge step forward imo. I know you were hoping for more but at present some sites do almost nothing to secure their games - 888 being the obvious worst offender - it'll be interesting to see how the sites respond.

There's rumblings about minimum guaranteed stakes for sports betting in the not too distant future, that would be a huge game changer (at present they simply limit/ban anyone that's not a moron).

A bump realy, a reminder if anyone was interested in helping respond to this important consultation.

This consultation has now been completed and there are some new requirements on UK licenced poker sites wrt Third Party Software, telling customers how seized funds are disposed of/compensation is paid/calculated and reporting to the Commission on illegal play, incl the financial impact of that play.

It's quite long so I will not cut and paste here but it is section 12 & 13 = p25-31 of this PDF

http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk...-June-2017.pdf

For nerds like me the Commission summary of what the firms said is interesting as is the mildly irritated tone the UKGC seem to have let creep in within their response.

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.

Thanks. It will be interesting to see how it develops. Keep up the good work!