We would like to ask all Bookmakers to review their point of contact details email and phone contact details with the Gambling Commission as soon as possible to confirm they are correct and they are able to receive any correspondence sent to them from the Gambling Commission.
We would also like to clarify that the Gambling Commission does not take cheque payments anymore for payment of licence fees.
We have been made aware of two instances when bookmakers have had their licences revoked by the Gambling Commission, but neither the operator themselves nor RBC have been aware of the revocation, which has been caused by non-payment of fees.
One such case arose from an unprecedented set of circumstances following the untimely death of the operator’s nominated point of contact with the GC, resulting in correspondence from the Commission not reaching the intended recipient.
The GC has stated that it does not routinely send out reminders to operators when annual fees are due, and bookmakers are reminded that it is their sole responsibility to comply with all conditions of their licence, including timely payment of annual fees.
RBC has reviewed its own processes with regard to how it accesses GC records in order to minimise the risk of any recurrence and better protect the racecourses’ licences.