Andrew Rhodes Gambling Commission Chief Executive WALL OF SHAME 68 not be explained by a “genuine spike in gambling activity.” And yet, under the direction of Mr. Rhodes, the Gambling Commission approved this method, knowing the data was incorrect and knowing the results were skewed. Adding fuel to the fire of stupidity, the UKGC not only green-lighted this method, but it even went as far as to call it a “success.” And, yes, they have plans to use a similar method moving forward. This my friends, this right here tells us all we need to know about the Gambling Commission. When will Mr. Rhodes and the UKGC start holding themselves to the same high standards that they demand from their licensees? This is either insanity at its grandest form or the Commission is just tired or trying to disguise its self-preserving agenda. Either way, we are holding the UKGC’s new Chief Executive responsible and pinning his sorry face to our Wall of Shame. And don’t worry, Andrew. Our guess is that you’ll have company from someone else inside your office soon. Welcome to the Club! It should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention that the U.K. Gambling Commission is already a “proud” member of the esteemed APCW Wall of Shame. And when you consider all of the dumbfounding decisions that have been made by the UKGC over the last year or so, it’s realistic to think that we may very well need to build the organization its very own wing someday soon. But for now we welcome Mr. Andrew Rhodes, the newly crowned Chief Executive of the UKGC, to the club. Call it a coincidence if you’d like, but right around the same time in late May when it was revealed that Rhodes was going from interim Head Honcho to permanent Chief Executive, the UKGC also made headlines for another flabbergasting announcement that had all of us in the industry shaking our heads in disbelief. This time it was about the UKGC’s new method of calculating the rate of problem gambling. It’s a process that was flawed from the very beginning and incorrectly found rates of gambling addiction three to seven times higher due to oversampling. Incredibly, even the firm that conducted the study warned that the higher numbers of addiction being reported can G P W A t i m e s . o r g
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