UK Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) chief executive Michael Dugher has a couple requests for Britain’s newly installed secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, Lucy Frazeron on behalf of the UK gambling industry. The BGC would like it if the Minister would refrain from supporting any new taxes on gambling operators and, if possible, operators would really like to see that long-delayed gambling reform white paper.
Dugher’s comments came as Frazeron spent her first week at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) after being appointed by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Speaking via a blog post on the BGC website, Dugher welcomed Frazeron to her new post, and got right down to business saying, “There are still issues to finalise, but the long awaited package of welcome reforms should be published without delay. We hope the new Secretary of State will listen to racing and to the millions of punters who are concerned about blanket, intrusive, low level ‘affordability’ checks driving people to the unsafe unregulated black market online. We also hope that as a sector supporting jobs and investment in the UK, recovering from the pandemic and facing tough economic headwinds, she will reject calls for any new taxes on the industry.”
Frazer was also cautioned against regulating the industry too much on account of a small number of problem gamblers adding, ““We continue to call for big changes so that standards in safer gambling continue to improve, but these changes must be carefully targeted to protect the small minority who are at risk or vulnerable, and not interfere with the overwhelming majority who enjoy betting safely and responsibly.”
There’s been no public response from Frazer, though it’s likely that all these issues are priority items on her to-do-list.