Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

Debate between Clive Efford and Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Clive Efford]

All the examples we are hearing, including that one, show the problem of clustering.

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

At the risk of paraphrasing Mrs Merton, what first attracted the multimillionaire Peter Coates, the chairman of bet365, to donate £400,000 to the Labour party, £100,000 of which was given in the 12 months after the passing of the Gambling Act 2005?

[Clive Efford]

Bet365 is an online gambling company and we are not dealing with that industry today. However, I will just say that Mr Coates’s company is one of the few that has stayed in the UK, that employs people in the UK and that pays taxes in the UK, which is more than can be said for Lord Ashcroft.