Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill

Lord Risby Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Risby (Con)]

My Lords, one of the great pleasures of being a Member of Parliament was that as part of my constituency I represented Newmarket, the historic—and still, I hope—world headquarters of racing.

The finances of racing are based on a system which nobody now likes at all and which has repeatedly attracted very reluctant government involvement. Additionally, the levy has shrunk from a high point of £115.3 million in 2007-08 to the current very anaemic £73.9 million. By contrast, the French state-owned Tote monopoly returned €876 million in 2011 to the industry body, and even in Australia a total of £280 million was returned to racing from betting. The comparison is obvious.

While high-quality bloodstock has recently reached staggering price levels and race meeting attendance has grown as the industry has become more consumer-friendly, prize money is now pathetically inadequate—a point made by the noble Viscount, Lord Falkland. Today there are concerns about consequent falling foal production, the best bloodstock leaving the country and the drop in the number of horses in training. I echo the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley. The imbalances are now obvious.

I welcome the Bill unreservedly, at least inasmuch as it takes us in the direction of some resolution of racing’s dilemmas and introduces clearer consumer protection and the monitoring of possible illegal activity. When the Gambling Act was introduced in 2005, it was hoped that online gambling would remain in the UK with its economic benefits. It was an error by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer to try to secure revenue by seeking to impose a tax and regulatory regime that simply helped to drive almost every operator offshore. At the heart of the Bill lies the objective of trying to secure a level playing field between onshore and offshore gambling by making the point of consumption the focal point of the system. The Bill has been welcomed across the party political divide and endorsed by the Select Committee for Culture, Media and Sport.

Undoubtedly, we hope that this will have some effect on increasing the size of the levy and bring greater transparency to betting activity. If that proves to be the case, and the prize money situation improves, it will be hugely welcome. However, the truth is that the history of contact and agreement between the governing bodies of racing and the bookmakers has been at times fractious and unproductive. Of course, the hope is that with this legislation offshore betting activity will be persuaded at least in part to return home and that levy payments will be automatically paid under the regulatory umbrella provided by the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963.

However, there is a view that this is not currently adequately defined and that even after being licensed by the Gambling Commission offshore operators may not contribute to the levy, all of which may be subject to judicial review. The Government have expressed the fear that the introduction of the point of consumption levy would breach EU state aid rules but the French, as we have heard, appear to have been given a green light by the EU Commission to operate their parafiscal levy.

I cannot but believe that the levy ultimately is unsustainable over the long run as the basis for financing a good portion of racing in this country. Therefore, however welcome this Bill is, surely we need to look further, but regard this Bill as an important and significant step towards an enduring, long-term and viable financial structure for the industry. Modern technology and changing consumer habits and practice offer this possibility. I therefore invite the Minister to reflect on the possibility of looking seriously at a sporting right which would give organisers of potentially many sports fixtures the property rights over the outcomes of the event, the product on which bets are placed. This product would be licensable so that any operator offering or accepting bets on the sport would need prior authorisation and pay a fair return accordingly. This would promote a commercial relationship between dependent industries, allowing the value of the products to be determined by a market rather than the Government, creating a level playing field and unlocking funding for horseracing and other sports, particularly at the grass-roots level. This approach essentially has been adopted in France and Australia.

Replacing the levy with a true sporting right would represent a major step forward for racing and gambling regulation more widely. Sport governing bodies could determine the market value of their product in line with the move to bring taxation and regulation of remote gambling onshore, as per this Bill. It would also recognise the interdependent relationship between the sports and gambling industries and force them to negotiate in good faith on commercial lines rather than, as in the case of horseracing, bringing about unwelcome government intervention.

In conclusion, I repeat my welcome for this Bill and earnestly hope that it fulfils its sound objectives but I believe that there still needs to be another step forward ultimately to move away from the levy system. Moreover, I ask the Minister, as this legislative process is undertaken, echoing the point made by my noble friend, that this is brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible. There has been the thought of potential delay of up to four years. Big problems are being highlighted in this legislation. I hope and believe that this can move through the legislative process and be applied as quickly as possible.