Call for urgency with gambling review white paper delayed again until the autumn

The government's gambling review white paper may not be published until October at the earliest after being delayed again by the recent political upheaval in Westminster.

However, Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Michael Dugher believes "rapid progress" is possible this autumn, although he warned affordability checks for punters must be "genuinely non-intrusive".

The government launched its gambling review in December 2020 with a promise to make legislation "fit for the digital age" but its proposals have been the subject of repeated delays.

There had been expectations the white paper would be published before parliament rose on Thursday but the resignation of prime minister Boris Johnson meant that major policy announcements have been left to his successor, who will be either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss.

The issue of the white paper was the subject of questions in the House of Lords on Wednesday afternoon, when government minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay told peers: "There will be a new prime minister in place in a matter of weeks, and we want to ensure that the hard work that has gone into the review sees its speedy publication."

Parliament returns after its summer break on September 5, which is when the identity of the new prime minister is expected to be announced.

However, parliament rises again for conference season just 17 days later, returning on October 17, leaving little time for new ministers to publish the white paper in September.

Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Michael Dugher

Dugher said that reforms should be proportionate and not push customers to the black market, but added: "I see no reason why a new minister couldn’t this time make rapid progress. There remains only a relatively small number of outstanding issues of concern across Whitehall.

"It is possible to deliver a genuinely transformative package of reforms, whilst at the same time not killing off an industry that supports nearly 120,000 jobs and pays around £4.5 billion in tax."

Affordability checks are set to be among the proposals contained in the white paper including, it is understood, 'passive' background checks once a punter records a net loss of £125 a month or £500 in a year, and more detailed checks triggered by a £2,000 loss over 90 days.

Dugher said the industry supported enhanced spending checks for online gambling but asked: "Who decides what exactly is ‘affordable’?"

He went on: "If the new system can’t be made to work effectively straightaway, what is to stop the regulator [the Gambling Commission] making it up as they go along by simply imposing arbitrary limits and compelling customers to hand over bank statements and payslips?

"We already know that 90 per cent of punters refuse to do this and drop out when documents are requested, and that 50 per cent of people refuse to do what we call ‘self-certification’, where we ask customers to tell us what they do for a living and how much they earn.

"Many are also concerned that proposed changes will hurt horseracing too, with industry estimates putting that loss at up to £30m, further risking jobs and businesses."

However, Dugher said he was "confident" that issues such as affordability could be resolved in September, adding: "After this latest delay, new ministers should urgently and skilfully seek to find consensus, and they should make a virtue of getting things done quickly."

Both Sunak and Truss are regarded as supporters of British racing. The two contenders to be the next prime minister both have racing interests in their constituencies and Sunak is said to have intervened on the sport's behalf during the gambling review.

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, a leading campaigner for gambling reform, has given his backing to Truss, claiming she is “keen to do something” on the issue. He told the Guardian he was unsure of Sunak's position on the subject.

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