BGC CEO: White paper will ultimately fail to please either side of the debate
Michael Dugher insists political compromise will lead to disappointment as he takes aim at anti-gambling lobby for treating sector “like tobacco”
Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) CEO Michael Dugher has claimed the white paper arising from the Gambling Act 2005 review will not end in happiness for either side of the debate.
Speaking to EGR at the BGC’s AGM in London today, Dugher noted that both the pro- and anti-gambling lobbies will likely be frustrated with aspects of the document, which is still yet to be released more than two years since the review was sanctioned.
EGR understands that the secretary of state for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Michelle Donelan, wants the white paper published before she goes on maternity leave in April.
While many of the details in the document have not been confirmed, there is the expectation for affordability checks to be brought forward as a key piece of future legislation.
Dugher said that while the BGC was embracing the changes, the government needed to “tread carefully” to ensure any changes were done in the correct manner.
Dugher said: “I don’t think it ends up in happiness; I think like with all these things, there will inevitably be political compromises. There’ll be a package and we will have called for lots of the changes and there may be some changes that we have concerns about, and those concerns are then addressed in subsequent consultations.
“I don’t think our objective is happiness. I think it’s for the government to recognise that you’ve got a world-leading British industry here and we want to protect that,” he added.
Dugher went on to take aim at the so-called anti-gambling lobby and insisted stakeholders would be severely disappointed that the document will not go far enough.
He continued: “Equally, the anti-gambling lobby, are they going to be happy? Probably not. Because the truth is, they’re coming at it from a different perspective, which is not about what positive changes can we necessarily make.
“They want to ban stuff. They want us treated like tobacco, they think that gambling is universally and intrinsically harmful to all.
“In many cases, they hate the industry. They want to demolish the industry. Now, that’s not going to be an outcome of the white paper, nor should it. So, on that basis, they’re definitely not going to be happy,” he concluded.
Speaking at the same event, de facto gambling minister Paul Scully insisted the review would be delivered in the “next few weeks”.