Draft Gambling Act 2005 (Operating Licence Conditions) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 Draft Gambling Levy Regulations 2025

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 General Committees

[Stephanie Peacock]

I do not recognise the logic of that argument. I do not believe the hon. Gentleman served as a Minister. He perhaps does not know that a Minister has to juggle a number of pieces of legislation, and a number of different issues. The Baroness is committed to being the Minister for Gambling, and she engages with a range of the sector, and as indeed did I when I was the shadow Minister, and I continue to speak to the sector when appropriate.

As for the economic picture, I will take no lessons from the official Opposition, given the state they left the economy in. Now I want to move on to discuss the actual statutory instrument.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

In her first sentence the Minister says we should move on from these political points, then in the second sentence says she will take no lessons from us on how we managed to wreck the economy. I would like it if she could reflect on those two sentences, to see whether they are mutually compatible.

[Stephanie Peacock]

I will certainly do that.

I would now like to move on to discuss the matter before us, and to deal with some of the points that the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup made. He mentioned more than once the desire to bash the sector. I certainly do not want to do that. I enjoy a trip to the races as much as anyone. I recognise the contribution that the betting and gambling industry makes to my constituency in Barnsley South, and I have visited a number of those outlets. The regulations are about getting that balance and acknowledging that millions of people like to gamble regularly but that there is a significant issue and challenge in this country with gambling-related harm. As the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green pointed out, this has been a long-standing, cross-party piece of work and a number of hon. Members have done a huge amount of work on it—more than I have—to bring it together over a number of years. Obviously, we had the 2023 White Paper and we now have the statutory instrument that will introduce the levy.

I will now turn to the questions asked by the hon. Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup. We have listened carefully to the arguments made by the land-based sector, and we understand its higher operating costs. We are keen to work with it, and we are confident that this is evidence-led and that it gets the balance right. It is not our intention for there to be double payments, and I believe officials are working to clarify that. I will certainly write to hon. Gentleman. He asked for the breakdown: 20% will go to research, 30% to prevention and 50% to treatment. We of course recognise the role that the third sector has played over many years.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned society lotteries. We had a debate in this place on Friday last week. I only had four minutes left to speak, but I briefly outlined the Government’s position. We have committed to come back to this place on that by the summer. We have commissioned independent research on society lotteries, which is due to report by next month, and we will be reporting to the House on that.

I will now move on to the points made by the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green. I once again acknowledge his contribution to the debate and to the work in front of us. We want to make sure that this is the most effective and efficient levy, so he is absolutely right that, if there are questions, we want to work with the sector and with relevant charities to get it right. As with anything new, that may take some time. We do not believe that those challenges are a reason to oppose these regulations. I appreciate his support, and I acknowledge the contribution he has made. On his specific questions about GambleAware, we acknowledge the role that industry funding has played in raising awareness previously. We are aiming to build a comprehensive approach to prevention for the first time, and it is a priority to ensure that funding is directed to where it is needed most. I will write to the right hon. Gentleman with a more specific answer, and I appreciate his contribution.

Question put.