Just when will the White Paper on Gambling Reform be published?
The Conservative Government clearly has a lot on its hands at present. The problems in Downing Street and the rest of the UK has continually seen the White Paper on gambling reform delayed. Fresh calls have been made for it to be published as soon as possible. Then we can find out what the plans are for reforming the UK gambling industry, including online casinos. But when will it be published?
Last week saw a gambling prevention summit held at Wembley. Over 100 key stakeholders in sport were in attendance on February 8. Among the speakers was Steph Shilton, the wife of Peter Shilton. The former England goalkeeper has been battling a gambling addiction for over 40 years
His wife works as a therapist but in addition to that is an ambassador for the Addiction Recovery Agency. Mrs Shilton is one of many who are growing increasingly impatient over the delays to the publishing of the White Paper. “The Government just keeps kicking it down the road and it’s so frustrating,” she said.
In the Conservative Manifesto for the December 2019 General Election, they promised to reform the Gambling Act 2005. That’s important as the current legislation was passed before online casinos and other gambling sites came into existence.
The White Paper was sent to Downing Street last July for final review. However, then the problems that led to Boris Johnson resigning as Prime Minister went into overdrive. When the Conservative Party election began, no new policies were going to be introduced.
Two Prime Ministers later we are still waiting for its publication. At the recent Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) AGM, Paul Scully MP said the White Paper is due to be published “in a few weeks.”
At the time of making the speech, he held the post of Gambling Minister. This week’s reshuffle has seen him moved to another Government department so this could cause further delay.
Steph Shilton summed up the frustration at the delay when saying: “In a weird way it is not fair on anyone.” Those gambling companies that run established casinos or are opening new UK online casino platforms such as Buzz Casino, all the time as per CasinoGambler.co.uk. They are in a position that some have described as ‘limbo’ due to this uncertainty. Planning for the future and setting budgets is a difficult task when they simply don’t know what reforms are on the horizon.
For example, one rumoured measure that could be introduced is reducing the maximum stake for games played at online casinos. Such a measure would definitely affect the revenue figures for the gambling industry. That is what happened when a similar approach was taken towards the fixed odds gambling machines seen in High Street bookmakers.
Mrs Shilton is bemused at the continued delay. Just how many times have you heard Rishi Sunak discuss the subject of introducing the promised reforms for online casinos? The White Paper was delivered to Downing Street seven months ago for final review but still it’s not been published.
In the meantimes, Mrs Shilton says that “the numbers of people being affected are totting up.” Reforming the gambling industry she says will “benefit treatment, prevention and education” and that’s something she believes Downing Street doesn’t understand.
February has also seen the Liberal Democrat Party call for increased taxation on the UK gambling industry. The additional revenue received would be used to pay for a new Carer’s Minimum Wage. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says the gambling industry should be paying more due to the burden that is placed on the NHS by those who play at online casinos and develop gambling problems.
There have been calls for the White Paper to introduce a mandatory levy on gambling companies. Those funds would be used to help fund research, treatment and prevention of gambling harm. However, it’s believed that the White Paper will not be introducing such a measure.
The regulations that will be announced may cause even more problems for those who like visiting online casinos. The BGC believes that the new rules could see more people heading in the direction of the black market.
They have spoken about how the majority of players at online casinos in the UK don’t develop gambling problems. If for example, stricter affordability checks or reduced maximum stakes were introduced, then many gamblers may opt to become members of unregulated sites. That’s a dangerous move as customers won’t be protected as they are on the regulated websites.
Figures recently released have shown that the numbers joining unregulated sites tripled during the World Cup held at the end of 2022.
The CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council is Michael Dugher. He is concerned about more people joining unregulated sites. While the regulated online casinos do their best to protect players and promote safer gambling, the black market operators have been “preying on the vulnerable.”
Referring to future legislation, Mr Dugher says that the Government “need to tread extremely carefully and resist blanket, intrusive affordability checks at low levels that push even more punters to these dangerous sites.”
