Dozens of software suppliers risk missing out on UK licence
Gambling Commission warns applications received after the December deadline may not be processed by March 31 cut-off date
As many as 30 software suppliers face the prospect of temporarily suspending their services to UK-facing egaming operators after a large number of licence applications missed the Gambling Commission deadline, eGaming Review has learned.
The regulator set a deadline for software licence applications of 31 December 2014 and instructed applicants that each submission would take at least six weeks to process.
However almost a third of the 148 applications it received came after that date and a large number of those companies now face being unlicensed at the crucial 31 March cut-off point and operators will be forced to cut off unlicensed suppliers or risk losing their own licence.
“We would like to remind operators that it will be a condition of their operating licence that all gambling software used by any Commission licensee from 31 March must have been manufactured and/or supplied and/or installed or adapted by a Commission gambling software licence holder,” a Gambling Commission spokesperson said.
“Any Commission licensee who does not comply with this condition will be in breach of their licence,” a spokesperson added.
The regulator said the 102 operators who applied for a software licence before 31 December 2014 should be licensed “subject to no issues arising” from its investigations, while the 16 submitted in January should also meet this month’s deadline.
However the remaining applications, filed in February and March, appear in real danger of temporarily losing their licence to operate in the UK market and this includes those that applied for a software licence as part of their advance application under the transitional arrangements.
The Gambling Commission said it was working hard on all applications and would attempt to ensure any disruption was kept to a minimum, but couldn’t guarantee all service providers would be licensed by the 31 March deadline.
“We previously advised operators that they should make their application before the New Year as licence applications normally take six weeks to process but can take longer if the application is incomplete or the Commission needs to investigate further,” a spokesperson said.
“As always, we will adopt a pragmatic approach so as not to disrupt consumers more than we have to and where we are very close to determination but just waiting for clarification of something non-critical, we will see if we can determine with conditions/undertakings,” a spokesperson added.