The Gambling Commission, the new regulator for gambling in Britain, is recruiting.
It launched formally in October and sets up in Birmingham in 2006.
Phillip Brear joined the commission in November as Director of Operations. He will oversee the licensing, compliance, intelligence and enforcement side. He was a 30-year career police officer in Lancashire and West Yorkshire. For the last three years he has been West Yorkshire Deputy Chief Constable. The Gambling Act 2005, which comes fully into force in 2007, tasks the commission with what it calls a rigorous new regulatory regime for commercial gambling, including betting and remote gambling. It takes over the role previously played by the Gaming Board for Great Britain in regulating casinos, bingo, gaming machines and lotteries, and will also have responsibility for regulating betting and remote gambling. The regulator’s aims: to keep crime out, to ensure gambling is done fairly and openly; and to protect children and vulnerable people. The commission will be funded mainly by income from licence fees. It has been established under the Gambling Act 2005, which comes fully into force in 2007. Richard Caborn, minister responsible for gambling regulation, pointed to the commission’s new powers to investigate, prosecute and levy unlimited fines.
What they say
Mr Caborn said: "The Gambling Commission will work to three key principles laid down in the Gambling Act – keeping out crime, protecting children and the vulnerable and ensuring gambling is fair. It will do so armed with new powers to investigate, prosecute and levy unlimited fines. I’m confident that the Commission will be seen as a model for gambling regulation around the world in the years to come."
An insight into the international nature of e-crime, and the reputational risk to reputable bodies, was in the Gaming Board’s last annual report, covering the year to March 2005. According to the report, queries about advance fee frauds, themed on lottery wins, have increased. Although the investigation of these frauds is the responsibility of the police, many scams use variants on the name of the Gaming Board and its officials to mislead recipients about the validity of winning claims. The report says: “The Intelligence Office has worked with the Board’s Lotteries Section to educate the public about the nature of these scams. In certain cases, where the name and reputation of the Board has been used to attempt to validate these frauds, the Intelligence Section has also consulted and recruited the help of The National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and the Metropolitan Police.”
Former senior police officers have also been represented on the board of the Gaming Board: former Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Ben Gunn, who is besides a non-executive director of The Jockey Club with special responsibility for security issues; and security advisor to the National Trust; and Roy Penrose, a former Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner and director General of the National Crime Squad from 1998 until 2000. Mr Penrose held a special responsibility for the board’s inspectorate.
About the sector: 138 casinos employ 15,000 people; 676 bingo clubs, 18,000.
