Simpler, more intuitive stakeholder engagement
The challenge
In 2017, the Gambling Commission faced a critical issue: their stakeholders were telling them that consultations weren't working as they should.
A survey revealed that people found their consultations inconsistent in terms of style, content, and quality. The process was also labour-intensive for the team, making it difficult to maintain the frequency and quality of engagement needed for effective regulation of a rapidly evolving gambling sector.
As a regulator responsible for overseeing everything from high street betting shops to online casinos, the Commission needed to consult regularly on a wide range of complex technical and policy issues. These ranged from licence conditions and codes of practice to remote gambling technical standards and financial penalties frameworks.
The challenge was clear: how could they deliver consultations that were consistently high-quality, accessible to diverse stakeholders, and efficient to run – whilst maintaining the transparency and accountability essential to their regulatory role?
Following the stakeholder feedback, the Commission ran a comprehensive review of its consultation process with a clear goal: to add genuine value for respondents whilst improving efficiency for the team.
The approach
The Gambling Commission chose Citizen Space as their consultation platform and it quickly proved to be the right decision.
Citizen Space is designed with consistency at its core. All consultations have the same look, feel, and format, meaning that whilst the Commission has full control over the content, the process for respondents remains familiar and predictable. Whether someone is responding to a consultation on gaming machine technical standards or proposed changes to licence conditions, they know what to expect.
The platform brings together all consultations – open, closed, and forthcoming – in one accessible hub. Stakeholders can share their views on active consultations, see what's coming up, and read detailed feedback on closed consultations, all from the same place. This transparency is crucial for building trust with the wide range of stakeholders the Commission engages with, from gambling businesses and trade associations to charities, academics, and members of the public.
For longer, more complex consultations, common in the gambling sector, Citizen Space allows respondents to save their progress and return later. This flexibility is particularly valuable when consulting on technical standards or detailed regulatory frameworks that require careful consideration.
The Commission configured Citizen Space to support their commitment to openness and accountability. The platform's "We Asked, You Said, We Did" feature makes it easy to provide clear, structured feedback that shows stakeholders exactly what was consulted on, how people responded, and crucially, what actions resulted from their contributions.
The "We Asked, You Said, We Did" format has proven particularly valuable. For each consultation, the Commission publishes clear, structured responses that:
- Summarise the proposals consulted upon
- Detail the range of responses received, including specific concerns and suggestions
- Explain the decisions made and any changes to proposals based on feedback
- Provide clear implementation timelines
This transparency has built trust even when the Commission proceeds with controversial measures. For example, when introducing financial vulnerability checks, the Commission adjusted thresholds and removed certain data requirements (such as postcode and job title) based on consultation feedback – demonstrating genuine responsiveness to stakeholder concerns.
The results
Since implementing Citizen Space, the Gambling Commission has delivered an impressive programme of regulatory consultation that has shaped significant reforms across the gambling sector.
The scale and diversity of engagement has been remarkable:
Between 2020 and 2025, the Commission ran major consultations covering everything from customer interaction requirements and financial risk assessments to socially responsible incentives and remote game design. These consultations attracted substantial engagement:
- The Summer 2023 consultation on remote game design, financial vulnerability checks, and marketing controls received 2,411 responses providing 3,113 individual contributions
- The Autumn 2023 consultation on customer-led tools and incentive structures attracted 116 respondents providing 289 responses across five complex topics
- A 2021 consultation on remote customer interaction received around 13,000 responses from consumers, people with lived experience of harm, gambling businesses, academics, and others
The breadth of stakeholders engaging demonstrates the accessibility of the platform: members of the public, gambling businesses, charities and non-profit organisations, academics, trade associations, licensing authorities, and professional bodies all contribute regularly.
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Strategic phasing enabled by clear communication
The platform has supported sophisticated implementation strategies. For the major 2023 consultations, the Commission developed a phased approach with five key implementation dates spanning from August 2024 to February 2025, allowing gambling businesses time for technical changes whilst accounting for other regulatory reforms.
The Commission has also used Citizen Space to run supplementary consultations when feedback revealed the need for further refinement – such as the March 2025 consultation on deposit limit definitions that emerged from responses to the Autumn 2023 consultation. This flexibility demonstrates a genuinely iterative approach to policy development.
A trusted platform for complex regulation
The consistency and reliability of Citizen Space has enabled the Gambling Commission to maintain an ambitious consultation programme even during challenging periods. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent regulatory reforms following the government's 2023 White Paper review of the Gambling Act, the Commission continued to engage stakeholders effectively on critical issues.
The platform has handled everything from highly technical consultations on gaming machine standards and remote gambling software specifications to complex policy consultations on financial penalties and customer protection frameworks – all whilst maintaining accessibility for members of the public and smaller stakeholders.
As one measure of the platform's success: none of the major consultations run through Citizen Space have been challenged on procedural grounds, and stakeholder feedback consistently shows that respondents feel they have been genuinely heard in the Commission's decision-making process.
By choosing Citizen Space, the Gambling Commission picked the best tool for their stakeholders, for their consultation team, and for their commitment to fairness and accountability in regulating one of the UK's most complex and fast-evolving sectors. The platform hasn't just improved their consultation process – it has become an essential foundation for effective, transparent gambling regulation that protects consumers whilst engaging meaningfully with industry.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.