Survey finds 70% of Brits want white paper released imminently
Data commissioned by Clean Up Gambling reveals strong support for publication’s release yet lower income respondents more coy on the issue
More than two thirds of the British public want to see Liz Truss release the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review as one of her first actions as Prime Minister.
In the latest polling released by Survation on behalf of Clean Up Gambling, an overwhelming majority want Truss to finally deliver the long-overdue white paper.
Survation data revealed 70% of people agree the government should bring the white paper forward as soon as a new Prime Minister was established.
Just 5% of respondents disagreed with the proposal, with 18% neither agreeing nor disagreeing. A further 8% of the public said they didn’t know.
Breaking the response down by key demographics, 68.2% of Conservative voters want to see the white paper delivered as soon as possible, with 69.9% of Labour voters agreeing.
Reforms to the Gambling Act 2005 was one of the key pillars of the 2019 Conservative manifesto on which they won a resounding majority in 2019.
Elsewhere, those on lower incomes (£0 – £19,999) were less supportive of the white paper being accelerated.
In the lower income bracket, 59.3% agreed with the statement, rising to 66.2% (£20,000-£39,999) and 68% (£40,000+) for higher incomes.
Industry lobbyists have regularly pointed to the impact of the white paper on working class bettors, including Betting and Gaming Council CEO Michael Dugher.
In an opinion piece for Politics Home, Dugher said: “Can you imagine the middle-class outcry if supermarkets couldn’t do special offers on a bottle of wine? Yet there are some that want to tell working class punters having a flutter on the horses or the football that consumers can’t have any offers on betting.
“And this is where you also start to get to the heart of attitudes towards betting. Undoubtedly, there is a creeping snobbery coming into this debate,” he added.
Truss has appointed Michelle Donelan as Secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with remit over the white paper.
Donelan has previously been vocal regarding gambling-related harms and was a key backer of reformation during the FOBT debate.
Matt Zarb-Cousin, Clean Up Gambling director, said: “Gambling reform is a popular agenda, and the public is supportive of the government bringing forward improvements to online gambling regulation as soon as possible given the cost-of-living crisis shows no sign of desisting.
“The Conservative manifesto in 2019 correctly identified that our gambling laws are outdated and need to be brought into the digital age, so we hope Liz Truss can deliver on that.
“The new Prime Minister has the chance to take immediate credit for a review spanning many years by announcing the oven-ready white paper, in full and undiluted.
“Ending gambling advertising in football, stake limits for online slots, a consumer ombudsman for gambling and a levy to fund treatment are all popular measures that can help define the new administration,” he added.