Outgoing RAiG chair Hawkswood moves to Gambling Integrity as advisor
During his time at the RGA, Hawkswood was closely involved in the development of industry best practice across a range of regulatory and social responsibility issues, including regular dialogue with the British gambling Commission and government, Gambling Integrity said.
For several years, he was also a board member of gambling awareness charity GambleAware, and was the first chairman of self-exclusion scheme Gamstop.
“Clive brings huge depth of knowledge of the online gambling industry together with a deep commitment to player protection and the prevention of gambling-related harm,” said Malcolm Bruce, founder of Gambling Integrity.
“He will be working with us to develop and enhance our pre-audit review (PAR) service, which provides reassurance to operators that they are in good shape from a regulatory perspective before they are audited, inspected, or have their licences reviewed by the British Gambling Commission.”
Hawkswood added: “It is always better to seek out and address any regulatory failings, especially where they relate to player protection, before they are identified by the Gambling Commission. With operator boards being held directly responsible for serious breaches, I am sure that more than ever they will want to have the fullest confidence in the controls and systems within their companies.”
“I am delighted to now be part of the Gambling Integrity team working with our clients to ensure their boards are fully briefed on the steps they need to take to maximise regulatory compliance and good corporate governance.”
It was announced this week that Hawkswood would stand down from the chairmanship of RAiG, a position he has held since the association’s creation. He will be replaced by Cian Nugent, managing director of racing for affiliate and media business at the Racing Post.
RAiG publicly declared its support for a statutory licensing or registration regime for affiliates active in the British gambling market in June last year. The association said however that its support was conditional upon it seeing more detail on what such a system would entail, and on understanding the benefits it would provide to consumers.
Hawkswood was also named a non-executive director for responsible gambling solutions provider BeBettor in April 2020, in order to help ensure its RG solutions could be successfully rolled out by operators.