GB regulator green lights poker auto-rebuy

Great Britain’s Gambling Commission (GC) has clarified its position on auto-rebuy for online poker sites within its new regulatory framework after a number of operators said they were to withdraw the function due to regulatory requirements.

PokerStars and Sky Poker are among those that have or are considering removing auto-rebuy from their UK-facing platforms citing remote technical standard (RTS) 14, which aims to ensure that poker sites are designed to minimise the risk of exploiting or encouraging problem gambling behaviour.

“Gambling products must not actively encourage customers to chase their losses, increase their stake or increase the amount they have decided to gamble, or continue to gamble after they have indicated that they wish to stop,” RTS 14 states.

“When a customer buys-in at a poker table they should have to choose to purchase more chips to play at the table – auto-rebuy should not be provided,” it continues.

However, in a clarification document published yesterday, the Commission said operators had two options regarding RTS 14, either they could choose not to offer auto-rebuy, or they could offer auto-rebuy so long as they ensured other player protection measures were in place.

“We would expect licensees to effectively implement other responsible gambling measures that are intended to protect players from harm,” the document read. “This means an operator is expected to monitor the play of their customers and, if unusual or excessive gambling activity occurred, take appropriate action.”

“In future we are planning to review RTS and we may seek to make this more explicit and/or consider specific controls around auto-rebuy, for example, player pre-set financial limit on their cumulative value.

“But for present purposes licence holders would comply with RTS 14 if they offer auto-rebuy provided other player protection measure are effectively implemented,” the Commission added.

eGaming Review understands operators are now reviewing their auto-rebuy policies and will work closely with the Commission to ensure they comply with RTS requirements.

“We are very pleased that the GC was willing to discuss this after it became clear to them that players had an issue with it,” a spokesman for PokerStars and Full Tilt said.

“We appreciate that we have been able to have a dialogue with the UK regulator on this, and it is clear that the GC are willing to listen to concerns raised by players.

“In terms of enabling auto-rebuy for PokerStars and Full Tilt, we will consider the full implications of this development, and investigate how much development work is required to make auto-rebuy an option for UK players when our new software goes live,” the spokesman added.

Sky Poker’s head of poker Richard Milner said it too would reconsider its stance on auto-rebuy.

“Further to the guidance from the UKGC regarding RTS14, we will be considering all options on this whilst clearly adhering to the Gambling Commission rules,” he said.

“This may include looking at offering a modified version of this feature to customers,” Milner added.

The Gambling Commission is also reviewing its requirements for online casino auto-play, covered under RTS 8, with the guideline currently suspended pending a consultation.

Under the current version of RTS 8 operators would be required to restrict the number of auto-play spins to 25, but a proposed amendment extends this to 100 with customers able to set stop loss and “stop at win” limits.

The new GB licensing and regulatory regime was set to come into force on 1 October, however the implementation date was put back until 1 November after being challenged in the courts by the Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association.