A Conservative MP has issued a stark assessment about the consequences of over regulation, warning that it will result in job losses, damage to British sporting institutions, a migration of consumers to unregulated overseas operators and further damage to the country’s beleaguered high street economies.
An MP has cautioned that continued Government over-regulation of the gambling sector will lead to further job losses across the UK.
Charlie Dewhirst, Conservative MP for Bridlington and The Wolds, a constituency which includes the headquarters of Betfred, said ministers need to acknowledge that betting and gaming, when carried out responsibly, are legitimate commercial activities, along with associated advertising and sponsorship.
He added that there are already worrying indications that the industry is coming under pressure. “Modelling shows a depressing outlook for the industry under the current taxation system,” he told fellow MPs. “There is some very headline-grabbing stuff: Coral has pulled out of its deal to sponsor Cheltenham, and the industry expects to lose 16,000 jobs across the UK, a number of which are high-tech jobs. Those jobs will be lost in places such as Stoke, Warrington, Leeds, Sunderland, Manchester, Nottingham, and Newcastle- under-Lyme, where the successful gambling firms are based. Those job losses will then filter down to the gambling shops on our high streets; in recent weeks, we saw William Hill announce the loss of 200 high street stores.”
Dewhirst warned that stricter rules could push consumers toward unregulated overseas operators, offering little benefit to the UK.
“It is important that we do not just ban something and hope that it will be a silver bullet, we do not know that it will,” he said. “I agree that no gambling firm, regulated or unregulated, should be targeting children in their advertising, but we have to be careful not to just ban advertising without recognising that that could have severe impacts on certain sports. It is not bad to have that relationship; gambling is not an illegal activity. It is something that most people enjoy, and most people will not become problem gamblers.
“When we deal with problem gamblers, we need to look at how we can best protect and help those individuals. The Gambling Commission has found that there are concerns about the introduction of new checks and how intrusive they may be. We need to be wary of that, because it can put people off using British, regulated companies and push them toward foreign, unregulated spaces that are not subject to the same gambling taxation, which often allows for more attractive stakes and so on.
“We do not want to over-regulate our own market and force people into a place that is of no advantage to us and that we have no influence over.”
Careful what you wish for
Charlie Dewhirst MP said……. “It is important that we do not just ban something and hope that it will be a silver bullet, we do not know that it will……
