The UK Gambling Commission has revealed it suspended the licences of Dynamic, trading as Prophet, and Sportito with immediate effect after the firm’s failure to fully integrate Gamstops’s self-exclusion scheme.
The suspension for the two operators comes after all online entities were notified in January that participation in Gamstop by 31 March was a requirement of its license conditions and social responsibility code.
Subsequent to the suspension being implemented, Sportito had integrated the Gamstop scheme, with its suspension lifted and the review continuing.
Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive, stated: “We have made it clear to operators that we are ready and willing to use our powers to protect consumers, as this action demonstrates.
‘’Self-exclusion is an important tool to protect vulnerable consumers, which is why we made it compulsory for all online operators to be signed up to GAMSTOP by 31 March.
“We took action because the operators had not complied by the deadline, which placed vulnerable consumers at risk.
“One of the suspensions has now been lifted as the operator is now compliant. Our investigations into both operators continue.”
The suspension of Dynamic’s licence will remain in place until the Commission is satisfied that the operator has fully integrated the Gamstop scheme and is fully compliant with its licence conditions.
This news follows Gamstop’s appeal earlier this week which urged people who are worried about their gambling while stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown to “exclude themselves from all online gambling websites”. The plea was made to limit the risk of problem gambling during the coronavirus climate.
This followed concerns raised by the Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group which suggested that the enforced lockdown could result in an increase in problem gambling levels.