Monday 12 November 2018

Lives are at stake

During the Summer, a number of leading gambling industry executives said that gambling advertising had ‘gone too far’ and that even they were concerned about the exposure to children and young people. Executives, including from William Hill and Paddy Power Betfair, said that a ‘change’ or ‘curb’ was needed and that this needed to be led by Government.
Peter Jackson, Chief Executive of Paddy Power Betfair said he believed it would be hard for gambling companies to act unilaterally: “Even if progressive operators agree to restrict ads, unless there’s legislation passed, less responsible operators will step in and continue advertising.”
So far, we are still waiting for the government to take action to restrict the nature and extent of gambling advertising on our screens and online. The UK is not alone. Many countries, including recently Australia and Belgium, are tightening up considerably on gambling advertising.
But, easily the biggest public concern relates to Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) where significant (up to £100) stakes can be made frequently, providing the opportunity to lose thousands of pounds in just a short period.
After much pressure, stories of families losing their homes and jobs, and political discussion, the government indicated that it was prepared to act to cut the maximum fixed stake from £100 to £2. Everybody had been working on the assumption that this would be implemented by April 2019 at the latest.
However, the Chancellor said in his budget speech that the cut in FOBT stakes would not come into effect until October 2019. Undoubtedly, he had been heavily lobbied by gambling industry representatives as FOBTs provide such huge profits. But his position is particularly untenable as he is raising the gaming duty to 21% to pay for the delayed cut in FOBT stakes.
MPs across parties have been outraged by this decision. The government’s Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch – who I have always found to be principled and fair, has resigned, stating that pushing back the date for implementing the cut was “unjustifiable”.
I agree, which is why I will be working with MPs across all parties to try to get the cut to a maximum stake of £2 implemented by April 2019 at the latest. The government is gambling with people’s lives.