Commission action over ‘faulty’ data

Betting companies are to meet with the UK Gambling Commission to discuss claims that the outcome of incidents in football matches – a popular bet – are being wrongly recorded.

The bets concern the number of tackles made by one team in a game or the number of shots on goal and this type of bet represents a high proportion of gambling on football matches.

But the data providers used to pinpoint the statistics can be faulty, it has been suggested.

The initiative follows reports by the BBC of bets being compromised by incidents such as wrong decisions by referees and the resulting action providing non-qualifying data. As there is no appeal process to a failed bet, the gamblers feel cheated.

The BBC investigation consulted a university professor on the subject who said that in many cases the complaints were valid and there could be as much as a five per cent margin of inaccuracy.

In other news from the UK Gambling Commission, in a press briefing this morning it said that it plans to introduce new rules for land-based operators to carry out age verification testing.

The move, which will impact adult gaming centres, will also change the good practice code to say that licensees shold have procedures that require their staff to check the age of any customer who appears to be under 25 years old, rather than under 21 years.

These rules will come into effect on August 30 of this year.

Most of the changes outlined by the commission this morning were consistent with the government’s white paper on gambling reform and largely dealt with online gambling.