UK gambling review won’t please all

The upcoming and long-overdue review of the UK’s Gambling Act will leave some elements in the industry disappointed, says gambling minster Paul Scully.

Scully is reported in the Racing Post to have told the betting industry that “no one is going to get everything that they want” from the white paper that is to be published shortly.

But Scully confirmed that there was a desire at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) for both the racing and betting sectors to thrive.

No news is forthcoming on the date that the white paper on gambling reform in the UK will actually be published.

The minister said, at a House of Commons reception this week: “When we talk about affordability checks, when we talk about the levy, when we talk about looking at stakes and other things, we know that gambling harm is a comparatively low number of people but the impact is absolutely massive when it goes wrong.

“So how do we get that balance right? To the last minute, until we get that white paper out, I will keep those conversations going and then beyond because the white paper is a moment in time. It’s not a silver bullet that everything is done when the publication of the white paper happens.”