GB regulator moves to allay supplier licensing fears

Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has moved to downplay fears operators would be required to remove all products provided by suppliers that fail to obtain a British licence by the 31 March deadline.

Last week, eGR revealed that as many as 30 software suppliers were in danger of not receiving their B2B licence by the end of the month following a flurry of late licence applications.

As part of the new British licensing regime, operators will be in breach of the licensing conditions and codes of conduct should they be found to be using software from an unlicensed supplier from the start of next month.

However, speaking to eGaming Review this morning, a spokesperson for the Gambling Commission said operators could continue to use products supplied by unlicensed suppliers provided they were already in use before the new regime comes into effect on 1 April.

“It may help operators to understand that when they are considering contingency arrangements that they do not need to remove previously supplied products – i.e. products supplied before 31 March 2015,” a Gambling Commission spokesperson said.

“It is only the supply, adaptation or update of games or any of the other activities covered in Section 41 (of The Gambling Act 2005) post 31 March that must be provided/supplied by a Gambling Commission licence holder,” the spokesperson added.

The regulator previously set a deadline for software licence applications of 31 December and had informed applicants that each submission would take at least six weeks to process.

However almost a third of the 148 applications were submitted after that date and a large number of those companies now face being unlicensed at the crucial 31 March cut-off point.

The Gambling Commission has said operators and suppliers should contact it directly with any questions on the new software supplier licensing regime.