Gambling Bill: Government responds to report on draft

The draft bill - which is still incomplete - creates a new regulator, the Gambling Commission, and introduces a Remote Gambling Licence for phone and internet businesses. It seeks to balance protection for children and vulnerable adults with the commercial needs of the gambling industry.

According to Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Government is responding to the Joint Scrutiny Committee's report on the draft by taking a more cautious, incremental approach to gambling reform. This includes tougher controls on high prize gaming machines and new powers for local authorities to stop casinos opening in their areas.

Seeking to assuage concerns that the new rules will encourage gambling addiction, the Government will carry out a problem gambling prevalence study before the new legislation comes into force and will form a baseline for further studies carried out every three years after that by the new Commission.

According to Ms Jowell:

"Britain has one of the lowest rates of problem gambling in the developed world. This is at risk if we do not act now and bring our laws up to date. The new powers and protections in this Bill, some recommended by the Scrutiny Committee and some going much further than they suggested, are all intended to keep Britain's problem gambling rate amongst the lowest.

"We only propose giving adults additional consumer choice where we can also protect children and vulnerable players"

The Government's response

The Joint Scrutiny Committee published its report on the draft Gambling Bill on 7th April. The Government has now issued its response, accepting the majority of the recommendations, such as banning gaming machines from unlicensed premises.

But the Government also added new proposals including:

• Gambling prevalence studies every three years to monitor problem gambling, which will form the basis for evidence-based regulation by the new Gambling Commission;
• Las Vegas style slot machines will now only be permitted in the largest Regional casinos;
• Capping numbers of all machines in all casinos;
• Compulsory non-gambling areas or 'chill out rooms' in all casinos;
• Giving local authorities powers to prevent new casinos opening up in their area, thus giving local residents a democratic voice in these decisions;
• Compulsory registration for all users of betting exchanges, not just 'professional' users; and
• Gambling Commission to produce codes of practice on social responsibility that every gambling operator will be required to comply with as a licence condition.

Remote gambling

In general terms the draft bill provides that operators of gambling services based in Great Britain and using remote communication will need licenses that authorise such gambling - an approach that was welcomed by the Committee as realistic.

According to its Report, "even if it were desirable, it would be impossible to prohibit the use of remote gambling services by UK citizens effectively. The proposals would create safe areas for gambling on the internet and give UK consumers the option to use well-regulated services."

But the Committee urged the Government to introduce regulation in this area as quickly as possible, and to make sure that the new Gambling Commission has the resources to cope with its responsibility in this area.

The Committee was also concerned that "the threat of operators locating themselves in other jurisdictions with less restrictive regulation should not lead to the creation of a UK regime that fails to protect the consumer and to deliver the reputational benefits sought by the industry".

In its response, the Government agreed, stressing that it is already working with the existing Gaming Board, the Gaming Board Transition team and industry associations in order to progress matters. The intention with regard regulation, said the Government, was "to provide for appropriate regulation of remote gambling".

This would include the licensing of relevant software providers, as recommended by the Committee Report, said the Government.

A recommendation that the Gambling Commission draw up codes of social responsibility to govern industry in this area was welcomed by the Government, as was the recommendation that codes of practice specifically dealing with under-age access to remote gambling be created.

The Government will allow the Joint Committee to be re-convened to consider several outstanding issues caused by a delay in actually publishing certain parts of the draft bill. It hopes that the second report will be available before Parliament takes its summer break. The finalised bill will then be laid before Parliament as soon as Parliamentary time permits.