We are often dissatisfied with the intensity of certain changes taking place in the country. It always seems to us that legislative processes should take place much faster, and positive results from them "should have been obtained yesterday". However, judging from the experience of developed countries, quality legislative changes require a lot of time and the involvement of all stakeholders in their implementation. Current situation in Britain with the discussion of changes to the Gambling Act, one of the main legislative documents in this area, is a clear example for the gambling market.
Despite the fact that the above-mentioned draft document was adopted back in December 2020, its broad discussion has begun only recently. In April 2023, the gambling regulator of the Great Britain issued an explanatory report on the Act, proposing to revise a number of its provisions. As one of the review mechanisms, it was proposed to introduce a procedure of multilateral consultations involving representatives of the government, the public, business and other stakeholders. Consultations began on 26 July and will last for 12 weeks.
Within these consultations, the regulator proposes to consider 4 key issues:
- Financial risks and vulnerability of players.
- Design of online gambling games.
- Improving the possibilities of choosing gambling services thanks to direct marketing.
- Strengthening mechanisms for verifying the age of players in land-based gambling establishments.
These points of the Act that were brought up for discussion, because they turned out to be the most topical issues and had already received their share of criticism from government officials, business and public representatives. While some criticism had a constructive basis, the other was manipulative and unfounded. That is, it was a situation typical for the Ukrainian gambling market.
So what do we see here? Revision of the legislative act passed to introduce a number of changes to the regulatory environment, began almost three years after its adoption. All stakeholders were involved in the discussion, not only a narrow circle of legislators and technical specialists. Such an approach leads to a number of important conclusions about how a developed gambling market should function.
1. Long duration of the reform process is normal even for developed jurisdictions. This process actually never ends. After all, the gambling market is quite technological, accordingly, changes happen very quickly, and you need to adapt to them just as quickly.
2. Democratic dialogue in a market economy requires time and the involvement of all stakeholders in the process of discussing important changes. The more proposals are made, the better the interests of all parties are taken into account as a result, and the fewer potential conflicts will arise when the relevant legislative provisions are implemented.
3. In developed markets, the dialogue is built primarily around protecting the rights of players and minimizing the potential negative consequences of gambling for them. After all, legal gambling is primarily about entertainment and quality service, and these two things should not harm players by definition.
4. A compromise between the state, business and players should exist for the effective operation of the market. Achieving this trade-off is not a linear process and can take years, even if the market is already formed and well-established.
Ukraine waited 11 years for the legalization of gambling. Then, we have been waiting for almost 3 years for the completion of the reform due to the adoption of the relevant tax and regulatory changes. This process is difficult and slow, and sometimes it seems to come to a dead end. However, as the example of Britain shows, it is very important to continue the dialogue and involve all stakeholders. After all, this approach is the most effective in terms of reaching a compromise between all parties of the process and conveying its essence to the decision-makers.
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