UK Gambling Commission Asking government For Fee Increase

Thursday September 03,2015 : U.K. GAMBLING COMMISSION MULLS FEE CHANGES
 
New regulatory and tax regime for online gambling has upped the costs.
 
Britain's Gambling Commission is to ask the government for approval for a higher fee structure to handle the increased costs of the relatively new point-of-consumption tax and licensing regime and the consequent rise in the workload.
 
The government has already said that it is prepared to review the fee structure once the regime has been fully implemented and has settled down, and the first full year of data should be available by the end of 2015, giving more clarity on the question of fees appropriate to the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014.
 
In the meantime the Commission has issued a discussion document explaining its approach to recovering costs through licensing fees, and how this might be improved along with related issues, and has invited public input to assist in presenting its case to government.
 
The Commission's statement notes:
 
“We hope that, by providing greater transparency about the way in which the Commission and indeed previous governments set about determining the fees needed for full cost recovery, stakeholders will be able to feed in any suggestions or proposals for improvements at this formative stage.”
 
The Commission's consultative initiative on this issue will include a meeting with trade associations later this (September) month, and an open invitation for interested parties to submit suggestions and views before October 27 to discussion@gamblingcommission.gov.uk