Isle of Man licensees block almost 3,000 underage gamblers in 2023

The Online Responsible Gambling Survey Report features responses from 33 out of 35 total Isle of Man licensees. It covers the effectiveness of the responsible gambling controls currently in place across operators’ websites. The data collected was for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023.

Among the headline findings was 2,972 underage players were blocked from gambling with licensed sites in 2023. The most common form of control detecting underage players was age consent requests at sign-up which ask players to submit their date of birth before accessing the site.

Of all the responding operators, 32 out of 33 said they used monitoring controls to detect underage players. All licensees in the study say their current tools are ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ in preventing underage people from gambling. Some 79% of licensees reported no incidents of underage players registering with their services.

On top of this, 31 licensees say they have ethical marketing policies to ensure advertising is not targeting underage consumers. A further 27 have similar contractual restrictions with their affiliates and other third-party marketing providers and 20 have social media policies to prevent marketing to minors.

Responsible gambling tools uptake as low as 2.5%

In terms of responsible gambling tools, all respondents said they have systems in place. This includes 31 with elective deposit limits, 22 with elective spending limits and 16 with elective loss limits.

Total reported usage of elective controls in 2023 was 67,907 customers, which translates to just 2.5% of the whole estate. However, one third of respondents were unable to provide usage statistics. As such, the GSC warns the take-up rate is likely understated as a result.

Isle of Man licensing rules state operators must offer at least one form of elective control. This can be deposit, spending or loss limits.

Some self-exclusion requests taking more than 12 hours

Other licence requirements in the Isle of Man include responding to self-exclusion requests from players. While the majority of these were processed immediately, others took longer. Up to 21,999 players, representing 0.8% of the market’s total player base, were signed up to the self-exclusion register by the end of December 2023.

Most respondents offered durations of six months, one year, five years, or permanent exclusion. Of all players who opted for the minimum period, 94% were excluded immediately and the other 6% within six hours.

However, this response time worsened for other self-exclusion periods. Some 57% were effective immediately, although 19% took up to six hours, 21% as long as 12 hours and 4% longer than this.

“The time taken to action a self-exclusion request varied by the means by which a customer made the request,” the GSC said of this issue. “Requests received by email could take six hours to take effect compared to customer managed account options that would usually take effect immediately.

“All respondents could apply at least one form of self-exclusion request within six hours,” it said.

In relation to this, 73% of responding operators received a complaint about responsible gambling matters in 2023. These mainly related to receiving correspondence that led to the company setting a limit or self-excluding a player, consumers having to provide documents for affordability checks, or not being granted access during a period of self-exclusion.

The GSC noted that two complaints referred to successful circumvention of self-exclusion controls.

Isle of Man regulator considers responsible gambling policy changes

Reviewing the findings, the GSC said it may use the study to amend its responsible gambling policy. This, it said, will allow licensees and the public to have access to clearer information and guidance on the issue.

“The GSC is committed to ensuring that the interventions that are specified in regulations are evidence-led and intends to use the results of the survey to inform future legislative changes,” the GSC said.

“As requirements evolve with emerging changes, it is crucial that licensees fully understand their responsibilities to ensure compliance at the earliest opportunity. To achieve this, the GSC will identify opportunities to improve understanding of regulatory requirements by engaging with licensees, consumers and others to clarify licensees’ responsibilities.”