The UK government is coming under increasing pressure from a group of its own MPs to introduce strict new regulations on gambling, according to The Guardian. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Gambling rebellion
The incumbent Labour government of the United Kingdom is facing a potential rebellion over demands for gambling reform, according to The Guardian.
demanding a complete reform of the UK’s existing gambling regulation
A group of minor Members of Parliament (MPs) is demanding a complete reform of the UK’s existing gambling regulation, suggesting that more than a million people in the country could have a gambling addiction.
The move, however, would pose a serious problem to the Labour Party, with many of its donations coming from the gambling world, a major industry in the UK which took a new record of £11.5bn ($15.4bn) from bettors in 2024.
New Gambling Act
The MPs are reported to be proposing a complete rewrite of the existing Gambling Act, which was introduced by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, also a Labour leader, in 2005.
Among the concerns that would be addressed in a new act are the rapid proliferation of gambling advertising and treating gambling as a public health issue rather than a legitimate leisure activity.
responsibility for controls on gambling would come under the control of the Department of Health
That would mean that responsibility for controls on gambling would come under the control of the Department of Health, rather than the department for digital, culture, media, and sport.
Many of the members are closely related to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Harm, which contains MPs from across the political spectrum. Its chair, former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, has long been one of the main voices in the British parliament in favor of further crackdowns on gambling.
MP Beccy Cooper, a member of the group, said: “I think a new Gambling Act will be needed to meet our manifesto commitment to reducing gambling-related harm.”
“As with the tobacco industry before it, we need to be able to ban the most harmful products, remove all advertising aimed at children and stop sports marketing that minimises the harmful nature of this addictive product,” Cooper added.
Potential hurdles
One of the many stumbling blocks will be the questionable results from the UK’s existing gambling regulations that have come into place since the passing of the 2005 Act.
One of the most controversial additions was affordability checks, which required operators to ensure that their customers were able to afford their losses. Since their introduction, however, operator takings have tended to switch to more addictive, chance-based games such as slots and roulette rather than skill-based offerings like poker or horse racing.
Operators have been accused of using the checks to heavily restrict players, while questions have also been asked over whether genuine addicts were targeted, with little to no evidence of harm reduction having emerged since their introduction.
increasingly cash-strapped Labour Party has several major donors in the industry
Lastly, an increasingly cash-strapped Labour Party has several major donors in the industry, receiving contributions of more than £400,000 ($536,000) in the four years leading up to the 2024 election, which saw them gain power.
With the two groups on a collision course, the government will have to evaluate its position carefully, particularly in the wake of a recent rebellion which saw them back down over controversial disability cuts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
