I thank Members for a highly stimulating debate on a wide range of issues including casinos, enforcement, spread betting, consumer protection, dormant accounts, the advertising watershed and, of course, the levy.
I will start with new clause 1, which relates to casinos. We have heard important contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), for Shipley (Philip Davies), for Manchester, Withington (Mr Leech), and for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) and the hon. Member for Bradford South (Mr Sutcliffe). Members will not be surprised to hear that I have had several iPhones waved at me recently, with the implication that such devices can be played on trains and in bedrooms, so why not in casinos? Let me make it clear, those devices can be played in casinos, and can indeed be offered by casinos to customers but within the limits of the machine stakes and prize regulations.
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This debate is about the ability of casinos to promote and encourage the use of such devices—including their own—outside of those controls. It is because we are talking about promotion and encouragement to play such games in casinos that I remain firmly of the opinion that it is right to consider potential flexibility within the structure of the existing machine stakes and prize regulations. The amendment completely sweeps away those controls and places the devices fully outside those regulations. Let us not forget that we are talking about the promotion and encouragement to play unlimited stakes and prizes. This means a category A type gaming machine in a casino, which is promoted by the casino.
I have heard arguments from my hon. Friends the Members for Rochford and Southend East and for Bromley and Chislehurst and from the hon. Member for Bradford South that a separate case should be made for casinos because they are at the top of the regulatory pyramid. The fact that casinos are at the top of the pyramid is exactly why I want to consider properly whether there is merit in the regulations for flexibility that reflects technical developments. I said several times in Committee and on Second Reading that I shall undertake such consideration. I have written to the Casino Forum in such terms and my Department has already commenced discussions with the sector about flexibility and modernisation.