Debates rage on in the UK as White Paper arrival date unclear

Anticipation is building up in Westminster as the United Kingdom prepares to re-regulate the gambling industry in the country which was last touched back in 2005 when the Gambling Act was established. As lawmakers await the arrival of a White Paper that will pave the regulatory path to a new and arguably more consumer-friendly industry, some matters remain unanswered and as they do – speculation swirls around.

There are those who want harsher restrictions on gambling citing societal ills caused by excessive gambling and there are those who called for a cooler approach on the matter. Some have pressed on for an exact timeline of the important document, but DCMS Nigel Huddleston refused to give a specific date during a Westminster Hall gathering.

Huddleston insisted that the government was responsible for getting "reform right" and that trying to pressure lawmakers into delivering within an exact time frame would not guarantee that. He assured that the White Paper will be delivered for broader discussion in the coming weeks. Conservative MP Ian Duncan Smith, a known critic of gambling, argued that Huddleston was not showing sufficient commitment in the matter. Duncan vituperated against some of his colleagues for having too close for his taste ties with the gambling industry.

He insisted that "coming weeks" be defined by Huddleston. Is it a few weeks or several, Smith insisted as he was pressing the matter on his colleague? Huddleston, who was filling in for Gambling Minister Chris Philip who was unable to attend to important meet-up, simply said that it would be down to Philip to offer such commitment and that "coming weeks" is all he could say at the time.

One of the big-ticket items for discussion was the mandatory 1% levy which some lawmakers and NGOs have been trying to push on the gambling industry. The levy would be used to address gambling-related harm by providing adequate funding for research and setting up treatment facilities. Duncan, a hawk in the gambling industry, said that he doubted the intentions of some of his colleagues.

He argued that some MPs have been delivering speeches handed down to them by gambling operators and he named one. Duncan has been committed to ensuring that consumers are protected – a noble sentiment, but not hearing industry input is a bad strategy to say at best.

Duncan is not alone in his hawkishness, though. Carolyn Harris, another MP who supports a broader gambling reform and broader reform of the gambling levy in general, offered a more conciliatory but still determined tone. The 0.1% levied right now would simply not do she argued.

Instead, the industry should fall with what charities expect from the industry, to name 1% in terms of the mandatory levy. Betting and Gaming Council previously objected to pressing on with stricter measures on the gambling industry, explaining that the number of problem gamblers in the country has been reduced dramatically over the past years.

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