Stick or twist: Ministers prepare to water down upcoming gambling review
As the long-awaited gambling review beckons, ministers are starting to rethink what the industry has previously called “draconian” measures.
As reported by the Sunday Times, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is gearing up to water down proposals to crack down on problem gambling.
There has been great speculation about what this reform would mean: this includes talk of Premier League clubs being forced to drop gambling sponsors, as well as mandatory levies to fund addiction research and treatment.
GambleAware has spearheaded a mandatory one per cent levy on post winning earnings from operators.
The charity has argued that a levy would “provide stability and the best-in-class solutions to prevent gambling harms”, and could be reallocated into longer-term planning and commissioning for problem gambling services.
The charity estimates that £140m could be raised from this tax, and serve as a licensing condition for the gambling firms operating in the UK.
Sources told the paper that reforms were likely to come in the form of optional contributions rather than compulsory measures on big firms like Flutter and Entain.
The subject has divided politicians on both the right and the left.
UK gambling chief Michael Dugher recently pushed back against criticism that betting giants have lobbied with government over the upcoming white paper.
The CEO of Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) said in a tweet: “For the record, we’ve repeatedly met with ministers, officials and advisers across government.”
“Government should rightly engage about future changes with an industry that pays £4.5bn in tax & supports 119,000 jobs. Government have also met anti-gambling campaigners and that’s how it should be too”, he wrote.
It comes as new data reveals that nearly two thirds of punters (65 per cent) believe there is a large or substantial risk that setting limits on the amount of money spent on betting would drive more people to the unsafe, unregulated black market online.
Polling by YouGov found almost 56 per cent of punters thought the Government should not set limits on how much money they could bet.
A spokesperson for DCMS told the paper: “We are undertaking the most comprehensive review of gambling laws in 15 years to ensure they are fit for the digital age. We will be publishing a white paper… in the coming weeks”.
The review is expected to be published next month.