Offshore Gambling Bill

Debate between Lyn Brown and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Friday 25th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Miss McIntosh]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who takes a close interest in horse racing. He and I share a love of horse racing, and I shall a say little about the contribution that racing makes to the rural economy in my constituency. The Bill’s main purpose is to bring things onshore to the United Kingdom, where the racing takes place, and to emphasise that when a bet is placed online the point of consumption is in this country. The whole thrust of the Bill is to bring money back into racing, and I shall explain how. The Treasury’s proposals, which I understand can be introduced in any Budget—perhaps not this year; possibly next year—will restore the tax situation to those offshore betting companies. That is not the purpose of this Bill. The main difference between it and the draft Gambling (Licensing & Advertising) Bill, which has been drafted by my right hon. Friend the Minister, whom we welcome to the Chamber—we look forward to his response—is that this Bill relates to the levy.

[Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

One of the issues that I should like the hon. Lady to address is enforcement. An awful lot of international co-operation will be necessary. What mechanisms will she be able to employ to achieve that?

[Miss McIntosh]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk for the groundwork that he has done in that regard.

One of the unintended consequences of offshore betting has been to remove this activity from the remit of the Gambling Commission. It is my understanding that that was not the intention of the House when the Gambling Act was introduced in 2005. The Gambling Commission plays a key role in protecting young people and vulnerable people from such activities, and many of my right hon. and hon. Friends will agree on the need to protect the young from parts of the internet; indeed, one of my hon. Friends has just been appointed as adviser to the Prime Minister on that matter. In my view, it was never the intention of the House that this activity should be summarily removed from the remit of the Gambling Commission, which offers an enforcement mechanism.

Regarding the levy, we have to look at the European Commission, which should allow the proposals in clause 4.