Backlash to Gambling Commission’s prevarication over FOBT stake sends warning to government - CFFG
Campaign for Fairer Gambling
There is surely only one conclusion the government can come to when it responds to the gambling review, says the Campaign for Fairer Gambling.
On Monday, the regulator published its advice to government, which it had submitted to the gambling review. The Times splashed on “Watchdog Backs Away from Tough Betting Curbs”, disclosing that the Gambling Commission had advised the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) should be “no more than £30”, but also that a reduction to £2 would be consistent with their advice. This has effectively given the government free rein to determine the most appropriate level.
But the Gambling Commission’s lack of specificity, and the perception that its advice had given a green-light to a higher stake, led to a share-price boost for the bookmakers, as The Times reported the following day. This was accompanied by a scathing leader article – “High Stakes: machine betting is turning Britain into a nation of gambling addicts” – which argued: “The Gambling Commission has therefore recommended that the maximum bet should be reduced to £30. This is still too high. The government should insist on a much lower limit, closer to the £2 recommended by anti-gambling campaigners.”
Leading campaigner Carolyn Harris MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on FOBTs, appeared on Victoria Derbyshire, describing the machines as being “as addictive as heroin”. Carolyn also appeared on 5 Live, TalkRadio and BBC Wales throughout the day, as well as chairing an Extraordinary Meeting of her APPG, which featured Conservative, Labour and SNP MPs and a Lib Dem Peer, stakeholders including the Local Government Association, businesses affected by FOBTs, and the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt. Rev Alan Smith.
Bishop Alan Smith was quoted in The Sun, whose headline carried the quote that the Gambling Commission’s recommendation “betrays addicts”, similar to reports in the Guardian, the Daily Mail and the Mirror, also featured quotes from Labour MPs Carolyn Harris, David Lammy, Jim McMahon and Tom Watson, all of whom urged the government to back £2 – with Tom also putting out a comprehensive response.
SNP MP David Linden backed £2 in the Glasgow Times, while Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley told the Evening Standard the government faced defeat if it did not accept £2. He said he was prepared to put down a motion in the Commons, allowing Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and other Tory rebels to vote together. Respublica also restated its commitment to £2, and CEO of Addaction Mike Dixon slammed the Gambling Commission in the Independent.
Fairer Gambling’s Matt Zarb-Cousin appeared on Radio 4’s PM programme with the Gambling Commission, and wrote an op-ed for the Guardian on why the stake has to be £2, touching on his personal experience of addiction and arguing that £2 is the only level at which “large-scale losses” of £100 or more per session would be eliminated. This was tweeted by Jeremy Corbyn, who reiterated Labour’s manifesto commitment to reducing the stake to £2.
The Mayor of Newham Sir Robin Wales, which has led a coalition of 93 local authorities in demanding a reduction to £2 under the Sustainable Communities Act, branded the Gambling Commission’s advice “disgraceful” in the Newham Recorder.
But the ball is now firmly in the court of the government, as Greg Wood argued in the Guardian, the campaign to cut FOBT stakes to £2 is far from lost. The government will have noted the backlash against the prospect of a stake higher than £2, not least from Peter Oborne, who described the Gambling Commission’s prevarication as “utterly pathetic” and FOBTs as “disgraceful” in his column for the Daily Mail.
It’s difficult to remember the last time an issue had this level of consensus across the entire political spectrum. There is surely only one conclusion the government can come to when it responds to this review.
