UKGC to form Experts by Experience advisory group
Expert group with 'lived experience' advising Commission on responsible gambling
The Gambling Commission have this week announced they're working closely with an interim 'Experts by Experience' group whilst also co-creating a permanent Experts by Advisory group.
The interim group was formed to help provide advice, evidence and recommendations to the Gambling Commission with regards to making decisions regarding safe and responsible gambling. The permanent group is being set up to advise the regulator on a more established basis and help raise standards long-term.
How long will the interim group remain in place?
The group was formed following a workshop held in March of this year and comprises of people with “lived experience” of problem gambling including recovering gambling addicts, family and partners of addicts, and those who have lost children to gambling suicides
The interim Experts by Experience group will remain in place for a minimum of six months whilst the Gambling Commission works towards forming the permanent group who will build on advice received from important groups such as the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel.
The commission has reaffirmed that the input from the group will add a significant deal of insight as they strive to raise standards by including the opinions of consumers who have first hand experience with problem gambling. This includes information and feedback received from the consumer contact centres, online consumer research panels and engagement and consultations on regulatory changes.
Commission working to ensure advice is utilised effectively
Discussing their future goals the Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission explained: “Our goal is to make gambling safer for consumers and the creation of the interim group is another important step in helping us bring a wider range of perspectives into our work.
“We will work with the interim group to co-create a formal advisory board, which will allow us to involve Experts by Experience more closely in the development of our regulatory framework.
“I am really grateful for the open and constructive way in which members of the interim group have shared their personal experiences of gambling related harm and for everyone’s commitment to work together to tackle these important issues.
“It is early days and we are learning along the way to ensure that feedback and advice is utilised in the most effective way. This week we looked at the subject of affordability and we’ll be focused on other areas of player protection online in the weeks ahead.”
The establishment of this group is long overdue says spokesperson
Speaking about the importance of the group a spokesperson for the Experts by Experience group said: “The role that is too often allocated to Experts by Experience of telling our stories and commenting on narrowly defined questions is ineffective, so the establishment of the group is long overdue"
“We are determined that EbEs should play a continuing and much more active role in the deliberations and decision making across the whole remit of the Commission as part of the National Strategy to reduce gambling harms. We bring a new and vital perspective on key issues of regulation and even how the Commission itself works.
“We and they are learning how we can best work together, but we feel that there is a genuine commitment all round to make it work. Some of our comments were incorporated into the progress update on the industry-led working groups, but in future we may issue our own comments on issues that we have consulted with the Commission.
“We appreciate that the Commission recognises the value of our input, but we differ on certain key issues. Notably on how far and how fast improvements can be made. We look forward to working with the Commission.”