RGA Online Gambling Regulatory Guidelines

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The Remote Gaming Association (RGA) is a UK based trade association of the industry’s largest online gambling operators. It has released a set of technical guidelines with the objective of helping regulators in designing efficient and effective technical standards. Effective and efficient includes standards that are consistent across different online gambling jurisdictions.

An RGA spokesman acknowledged that other associations and bodies like the International Association of Gaming Regulators and the European Committee for Standardization have released online gambling regulatory guidelines of their own. But RGA wants to interact constructively in the national and international ongoing discussions on regulatory best practice based on the extensive first-hand experience of its members. The RGA statement pointed out that the advancing frontiers of innovation and technology present new challenges for regulators, but they also provide new opportunities to provide consumer protection and to combat crime.

The RGA believes that regulators must keep certain pointers in mind and that the guidelines will help regulators in designing systems based on these pointers. The regulatory framework should take full account of the information available, consumer experience and inherent market dynamics. The regulations should apply to all platforms and methods of remote delivery. Online gambling verticals like betting and gaming are inherently different and this must be recognized. Some of the guidelines deal with the integrity and fairness of online gambling products. The standards should ensure that online gambling products are fair, secure, auditable and can be regulated efficiently. The standards should provide assurance to consumers that the industry and the regulators are all committed to and capable of offering fair and safe online gambling. For this the practices adopted by the third party testing organizations should also be covered by the standards.

Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the RGA, said that his association was committed to high standards of probity and integrity. And this was not only for the benefit of its members but also for the entire online gambling industry. He said that technical standards that are consistent, proportionate, practical, and effective will also be in the best interests of regulators, governments and consumers. Hawkswood said that the objective of releasing the guidelines was not self regulation. He acknowledged the existence and the necessity of regulation by nationally appointed external agencies. It has become common place for online gambling operators to be licensed and regulated in multiple jurisdictions. Hawkswood concluded, “As those countries are essentially licensing the same products and businesses, logic dictates that in most cases they should adopt similar regulatory measures, such as those set out in our guidelines. We look forward to discussing their application.”

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