Remote Gambling Systems i.e. gambling services in which the customer participates via remote communication systems e.g. information society services (see section 4 of the Gambling Act 2005 for the definition of “remote communication”).

This notification relates to amendements to the Remote gambling and software technical standards (Remote technical standards) issued by the Gambling Commission in September 2007 under the Gambling Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”). It is a condition of all remote gambling licences issued by the Gambling Commission that the licensee complies with the Remote technical standards issued under section 89 of the 2005 Act. The standards set out in detail the technical requirements relating to remote gambling systems and cover three broad areas:

• ‘Fair and open’ standards intended to ensure that remote gambling is conducted in a fair and open way;

• ‘Responsible gambling’ standards supporting the licensing objective of protecting vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling; and

• ‘Security’ standards that support the fair and open objective and the objective of preventing gambling being a source of crime or disorder.

In particular, the new provisions require remote operators to:

• ensure consumers are able to directly access 3 months’ worth of account and gambling information, with a minimum period of 12 months available on request

• ensure account and gambling history provides easy to understand totals for a defined period (for example, the ability to be able to view transaction history for the previous two months)

• give consumers access to information about their net deposits (i.e. the running total of all deposits minus the sum of all withdrawals)

• allow consumers to set financial limits across their entire gambling account as well as individual games.