Gambling Commission Reveals Three Big Licencing Announcements
The Gambling Commission in Great Britain has been busy, as licences affecting the National Lottery, Jogo Global, and BGO Entertainment have all been the subject of big decisions.
Four Applications Received for fourth National Lottery Licence
There has been a delay in the tender process concerning the latest National Lottery licence, the procedure having started back in August 2020 with an initial end date of September this year.
The Commission in September instead added four weeks to the second phase of the tender, with another six weeks Bolton on for the regulator to evaluate all bids. While the delay is frustrating, the process is now moving apace.
As part of the bid extension, the current licence-holder Camelot had their own permit extended for six months, taking their tenure up to February 2024. However, the Gambling Commission has now begun evaluating new bids from four applicants with the hope of now announcing their preferred licensee in the early part of 2022.
We await with great anticipation the results of the tender, much of which is shrouded in secrecy.
Jogo Global Receives New Licence
Casino content developer Jogo Global has been handed a remote gambling software and games host licence.
The firm will now be allowed to extend its current games platform, mobile, online, and land-based services, and customised software with the territory now expanded to operators in Great Britain.
It has become apparent that Jogo Global has been talking to a number of British licenced operators already, and it now plans to finalise agreements with them over the next few months.
David Marcus, Jogo Global Group’s CEO, has stated his delight at the announcement and has said that the company considers the British market to be one of the world’s best and most recognised online gambling markets in the world.
This is a major achievement in the history of Jogo Global, the developer now being able to focus on delivering top-class services to a range of licenced operators in Britain under the auspices of the Gambling Commission.
Jogo’s new licence becomes part of their global growth development plan, among other things involving a recently announced partnership with consultancy firm SCCG Management.
BGO Entertainment’s Licence Suspended
The Gambling Commission has chosen to suspend the licence of online gambling operator BGO Entertainment. The Commission has said the suspension of BGO’s licence is effective immediately, and a review of the firm’s operations will take place in due course.
A review will be carried out under Section 116 of the Gambling Act 2005, coming amid concern that activities may be carried out by BGO contrary to the Act. They are essentially accused of not acting per the conditions of their Gambling Commission licence.
As yet, the Commission has not provided publicly full details of the concerns raised about BGO, but it has confirmed that there has been a failure to protect customers. BGO is the operator not only of its BGO.com brand but also Vegasluck, Powerspins, and Chili.com.
The licence suspension shouldn’t be a big surprise to many in the industry. Last year the regulator placed restrictions on BGO Entertainment after failings in the firm’s social responsibility were identified, with anti-money laundering controls apparently a major part of said failings.
Investigations involving these failings were launched as far back as September 2019, and with no positive strides apparently made the company’s future, or at least their ability to hold a licence in Britain, must now be in grave doubt.
