Poll: Should sports spread betting be regulated by the Gambling Commission?
UK government blocks proposals to move responsibility of sports spread betting to the Commission, but was it right to do so?
During last week’s third reading of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill, Labour shadow sports minister Clive Efford called for UK sports spread betting to be transferred to the watchful eye of the UK Commission, stating the current system to be an “anomaly” which needed rectifying.
The proposal was rejected by sports minister Helen Grant, who argued that by issuing further guidance the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would be closely aligned to the Gambling Commission in terms of its response to suspicious betting activity.
The FCA last week confirmed it plans to offer sports spreading firms additional guidance in relation to the reporting of suspicious betting activity.
But with MPs questioning the FCA’s handling of the issue should sports spread betting activity be regulated by the Gambling Commission rather than the FCA?
The FCA has long been responsible for spread betting “ including under its previous guise of the Financial Services Authority, and is largely used as a method to bet on financial markets and indicators.
There are currently only two firms which offer sports spread betting in the UK, Sporting Index and Spreadex, which both report to the Gambling Commission for their fixed-odd and binary betting products.
As such, in this week’s poll we ask readers: Do you think sports spread betting should be regulated by the FCA or should the responsibility be transferred to the Gambling Commission?
Have you say on the right-hand side of the screen.