It is a great pleasure to follow the Chair of the Select Committee. I refer Members to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am a trustee of the Responsible Gambling Trust, a great organisation that promotes research, education and treatment for problem gamblers. The entire gambling industry contributes to the fund on a voluntary basis. As the former Minister, I threatened that if it did not do so voluntarily, we would introduce a compulsory levy, but I am happy to report that it agreed and has raised over £5 million for research, education and treatment.
I mention that because I think the gambling industry is a very fair industry. Before I set out the context of the Bill, I notice that the deputy Chief Whip, the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr Foster), has arrived in his place, so I put it on the record that the Bill had its origins in my time as the Minister with responsibility for gambling and sport, on the prompting of the right hon. Gentleman. It was his idea to tackle the anomaly of remote gambling, so I place on record my thanks to him for his support during that time, when we were considering these issues.
I welcome the Minister to her position in the best job in government—the Minister for sport. It is unfortunate that it comes with gambling, tourism and other things on top, which is a bit of a problem. I am pleased that she has been able to get the Bill to the House today for its Second Reading; notwithstanding the comments that my hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) made about the time that that has taken, at least we are here today.
We seldom have opportunities to discuss gambling in such a context. There is a lot of hysteria about fixed odds betting terminals and the proliferation of betting shops—topics that I am sure we can discuss in a quieter environment sometime soon—but gambling contributes a lot to our economy in jobs, taxation and betting companies’ support for sport. In our efforts to protect the consumer, we should not lose sight of the context of where the industry is and how good it is. Those are the principal points around the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005—to protect the vulnerable, to provide consumer support, to keep crime out of gambling and to give a fair and open opportunity for the industry.
The 2005 Act came about following the Budd report in 2000. As I said in an intervention, the previous piece of legislation was in the 1960s. To those of us old enough to remember that, betting and gaming was seen as something dodgy—something associated with crime. It was illegal to advertise it. Betting shops were behind closed doors and frosted glass windows, and it was a
very male-dominated environment. Gambling has changed tremendously over that period. One needs only to look at the success of the national lottery to see how gambling has become part of the psyche of people in the UK.
We need to ensure that people who have a problem with gambling are supported. The last prevalence study showed that 0.7% of people had problems with gambling. I say that to the Minister, because I remember from my time No. 10 and No. 11 saying, “Keep gambling off the front pages.” They were worried about the Daily Mail; they were worried about the anti-gambling media. Sometimes, that does not help us to have a legitimate debate about some of the issues that flow from the development of gambling.
I am delighted to be a member of the Select Committee. The former gambling Minister, Richard Caborn, was brave enough to tell the Committee that we did not get it quite right in the 2005 Act. What he meant was that the Act had got caught up in the wash-up at the end of the Session, where deals are done to try to get Bills through. The deal on numbers of fixed odds betting terminals and shops was not a worked-out formula—it is just that that was the debate at the time. So it is right and proper that we look at all the issues around the Gambling Act 2005. Although her officials will be guiding the Minister to view the detail of the Bill in terms of online issues, I urge her to look at wider issues and to try to put right some of the wrongs in the 2005 Act. The Minister will be waiting to hear the outcome of the research by the Responsibility in Gambling Trust, which will be ready next year and should give a detailed solution to the problems associated with fixed odds betting terminals.
I return to the subject of casinos, which the Chair of the Select Committee raised. The problem of the portability of the licensing of casinos has been around for a while. There are 68 licences, some of which have not been taken up, but buildings are maintained because the licence applies to the building. I hope the Minister will accept some amendments relating to casinos and the unfair treatment that casinos have received as a result of the Gambling Act. Casinos are some of the most highly regulated places in the gambling sector and consumers are well looked after by the casino operators. I hope there will be some flexibility on the issues of portability and online opportunities.
The Bill puts consumers at the heart of gambling. We considered the issue in 2008, with the support of the right hon. Member for Bath, now the Comptroller of Her Majesty’s Household. There was a need to make sure that consumers were protected. I know that the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) is concerned about taxation and he is right to be concerned about the level of that taxation, but that should not take away from the fact that the Bill needs to be enacted for consumer protection.
One of the things I did as Sports Minister was look at sports betting integrity, which is a parallel issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Clive Efford), speaking from the Front Bench, raised the issue of the Pakistani cricketers. There have been numerous problems in relation to cheating, match fixing and so on, so we set up the sports betting integrity panel chaired by Rick Parry, which produced a report calling for education in sports for players of all age groups to make sure that they were aware of the risks from the type of gambling
that could take place. Some footballers, for instance, think it is not cheating to kick the ball out to get two corners or two throw-ins, because some people bet on that, but it is cheating and we have to make sure that people are aware of that.
I hope that when we go through the detail of the Bill in Committee we will look at bodies such as the Sports Betting Group that were set up after the Parry report. Such bodies included people from football, cricket, rugby union, horse racing and many other sports, who have followed some of the recommendations of the Parry report. One of their great concerns is spread betting, a topic that has been raised. The issue of how spread betting is defined needs looking at. The Chairman of the Select Committee did not take up my offer of looking at sports betting rights, but I hope the Minister might consider including that in her discussions with the sports.
One aspect of the Bill that concerns me is the inability to pursue the online gambling organisations for a contribution to the horse racing levy. I was delighted when the Minister was able to announce the agreement reached between the betting companies and the horse racing industry on the levy. Online operators should contribute to the levy as well.
As I said, research, education and treatment are important, so I would welcome opportunities to increase support for the trust in promoting that.
The Minister should look at the European directive on money laundering. Although we are all agreed that money laundering is undesirable, the directive affects on-cost bookmakers and the limits on what they are able to pay out on bets. We require some flexibility on the directive, which went through 27-0 on its last reading. I urge the Minister to speak to the Federation of Racecourse Bookmakers about how the money laundering regulations might affect them.
The Bill is welcome. It is important that we have the opportunity to protect consumers and to do the necessary tidying-up in the gambling industry. I found the gambling sector to be mindful of its responsibilities to consumers and of its contribution to employment and our economy. I support the Bill and look forward to its Committee and remaining stages.
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