The UK Gambling Commission is tasked with regulating the UK gambling industry and is the primary body for oversight of the multi-billion pound industry. There are three principal objectives of the Gambling Commission and one of which is the protection of children and young people from the impact of gambling activity. As such, the protection of children forms a major fulcrum around which the work of the Commission revolves with obvious implications for the gambling industry and everyone operating within it.
The primary platform used by the Gambling Commission is that all licensed gambling operators must implement policies and procedures designed to promote socially responsible gaming and gambling. Examples given by the Gambling Commission of being "socially responsible" include:
- Checking for underage customers;
- Prohibiting the establishment of gambling facilities which target children and young people whether deliberately or incidentally; or
- Refusing to provide gambling services to adults where they are accompanied by children or the young.
The work of the Gambling Commission is not simply restricted to preventing underage gambling but also to controlling the impact of gambling activity upon them which may be incidental to gambling itself. The most obvious area is in the employment of children (under-16's) and young persons (those over 16 but under 18 years of age).
For instance, it is an offence to employ children or young persons to provide facilities for playing bingo nor can their contracts of employment require them to perform any work in connection with a gaming machine (including cleaning it).
The Gambling Commission again requires gambling operators to have in place policies and procedures for compliance with the employment restrictions placed on children and young persons. In addition, all gambling operator employees (particularly the adults) are to be made aware of the laws involved in access to gaming and gambling by children and the young.
Finally, the Gambling Commission has published the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice for the gambling industry and one of the two Codes of Practice pertains to children and young persons and their access to casinos. Specifically, gambling operators must put into practice policies and procedures to protect children and other vulnerable persons from the adverse impact of gambling activities and in addition must monitor their efforts. The code is much more stringent for non-remote gambling establishments where a physical presence readily lends itself to checking the age and identity of a customer but there are also requirements for remote gambling operators - the online community falls within this definition - which again requires efforts to check the age of players and the refusal of service or pay-outs to people underage.
In summary, the UK Gambling Commission is tasked with primary responsibility for protecting children and young persons (as well "vulnerable persons" are referred too) and to this end has adopted a platform of voluntary and mandatory requirements of all gambling operators licensed by the Commission. The protection of children and young persons is extremely important in the work of the Commission and forms one of the three key objectives of the Commission and by which the UK gambling industry is being monitored and judged.
