UK Gambling Commission publishes guidance on group reporting requirements

The Gambling Commission has published a short guidance note on the changes to reporting requirements on group jurisdiction revenue.

The new changes, which will come into effect on 4 April 2018, require that licensees notify the Commission when they (or any group entity) begin advertising to a new jurisdiction or where a particular jurisdiction accounts for more than 3% (or 10% in the case of small operators) of its group revenue. This notification can be made by any group company holding a British licence.

Although the requirement to notify is triggered at such a time as the group ‘becomes aware of the change’, the Commission advises that such notification can be reported against the usual reporting period for the group (for example annually or quarterly) and should focus upon significant or sustained change in the group’s revenue by jurisdiction. Relatively small-scale, short term changes from a particular jurisdiction will not need to be reported.

The reporting requirements are intended to focus on key events which could have significant impact on the nature of the business or any sustained changes in a licensee’s business model or revenue profile by jurisdiction.

The specific licence condition (15.2.2) can be found in the new version of the LCCP, which comes into effect from 4 April 2018.

A ‘group company’ is any subsidiary or holding company of the licensee and any subsidiary of such holding company. In respect of a company, ‘holding company’ and ‘subsidiary’ have the meaning ascribed to that term by section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006 or any statutory modification or re-enactment thereof.