RAiG: omission of affiliate licensing from GB reforms was ‘expected’

RAiG, whose membership grew to 12 last year after its formation by the Racing Post, Oddschecker and Better Collective in 2019, threw its support behind “a statutory licensing or registration regime for affiliates who are active in the British gambling market” in June 2020.

However, yesterday’s leaked report of the forthcoming Gambling Act white paper – published by industry commentators Earnings + More – revealed that the UK government “is not persuaded by arguments for online affiliates to be licensed”.

In response, a spokesperson told iGB: “RAiG believes that the best way to raise standards across the gambling affiliate sector and improve safeguards for consumers is for affiliates to be licensed by the Gambling Commission.

“Despite engaging with HM government on this over the last 18 months we’ve expected that this would not form part of the Gambling Act review. In the absence of this being taken forward as part of the review, we’re already engaged with the wider gambling ecosystem on initiatives to drive improvements in the sector.”

David Da Silva, CEO of UK super affiliate EasyOdds and a long-standing opponent of a licensing or registration regime for GB-facing affiliates, told iGB: “My view is that affiliates representing regulated UK operators are already well managed through existing regulations, so this news is welcome.

“I’m not surprised that the arguments for licensing affiliates have been rejected as they provide no material benefit to players or operators. In fact, adding unnecessary regulatory burdens to smaller affiliates would only serve to reduce competition in the affiliate industry, most likely disadvantaging players and operators alike.”