Government insists the gambling review is on course as wait for white paper consultations continues

The UK government has insisted the timetable to implement the proposals put forward in its gambling review is on track, despite the first wave of consultations emerging from its white paper having yet to appear.

Among the issues set to be consulted on is the implementation of controversial financial risk checks for punters.

The government published its long-delayed white paper entitled 'High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age' at the end of April and said it expected its main measures to be in force by the summer of 2024.

The government and Gambling Commission are due to launch consultations this summer, with financial risk checks falling under the remit of the industry regulator and due to launch before the school holidays. The House of Commons rose yesterday without any of the consultations having yet been published.

The subject was raised in Culture, Media and Sport questions in the House of Commons on Thursday by shadow minister Alex Davies-Jones.

She said: "Affordability checks and stake limits for online gambling are of course welcome, but given that the government has already spent three years reviewing and consulting on gambling laws, why do we need further consultation on what levels they should be set at? 

"There should be no more unnecessary delays. I ask the minister, what exactly has the government been doing all this time?"

Alex Davies-Jones: "There should be no more unnecessary delays."Credit: London Portrait Photoqrapher-DAV

Gambling minister Stuart Andrew replied: "I am sure that the honourable lady would not want me to endanger the implementation of the policies in the white paper if we did not follow due process, which is what we are doing at the moment. 

"We will be starting the consultation very soon, and we are on course to implement everything by the summer of next year, as we promised."

Financial risk checks are among more than 60 areas of work for the Gambling Commission alone to have stemmed from the white paper.

The government has claimed the checks will be frictionless and conducted through credit reference agencies or open banking, with punters being asked for financial documentation only as a last resort.

How such checks would work is expected to form one of the crucial elements of the forthcoming consultation, but the Gambling Commission has been at pains to point out that most questions of public policy had been settled by the white paper and that the consultations would not reopen those debates.

The checks are set to come in two tiers, the first being 'background checks' taking place at thresholds of a £125 net loss within a month or £500 within a year, while enhanced checks would come in at proposed thresholds of a £1,000 net loss within 24 hours or £2,000 within 90 days.

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