Revealed: MPs have received £50,000 worth of gifts from Betting and Gaming Council over last 16 months

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has lavished MPs with almost £50,000 worth of gifts over the last 16 months, EGR can reveal.

Following an audit of the latest register of members’ financial interests, EGR found 28 MPs had received gifts from the trade body, ranging from hospitality at sporting events to tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert, totalling £49,131.30.

Of the MPs to receive gifts from the BGC, 18 were Conservatives and 10 were Labour members.

One of the Labour MPs, Alex Davies-Jones, received a ticket to the Ivor Novello Awards in 2021 worth £444.

However, this week, Davies-Jones pledged her support to the Gambling with Lives charity at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

The shadow DCMS minister was pictured with key members of the group, who noted the MP for Pontypridd had pledged “her support and her understanding of the economic argument for gambling reform”.

Really appreciate Shadow DCMS Minister @AlexDaviesJones pledging her support and her understanding of the economic argument for gambling reform.

£1 spent on gambling is £1 lost to local communities and local jobs.#Lab22 pic.twitter.com/3rskzCMCqu

— Gambling with Lives (@GambleWithLives) September 26, 2022

Labour also came under fire this week after a Daily Mirror-hosted party at the Labour conference was sponsored by the BGC.

MPs who attended the party also pledged their support to Gambling with Lives aims, with the charity having set up a booth on the conference’s exhibition floor.

This includes Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who, after lending his support to Gambling with Lives, was filmed partaking in a karaoke session at the BGC-sponsored party.

Alongside receiving gifts from the BGC, some MPs were also paid for working with the trade body.

Tory MP and Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) minister John Whittingdale was paid £6,000 for a speech at the BGC’s AGM.

Whittingdale noted the four-figure sum was based on just two hours of work.

The DCMS minister also received the most lucrative gift from the BGC during the period, with two hospitality tickets for Royal Ascot worth £4,962.

Additionally, fellow Tory MP Laurence Robertson disclosed that from 1 October 2020 until 30 September 2022, he earned £2,000 a month based on 10 hours of work in an advisory role to the BGC.

Robertson also received £5,625 worth of gifts between December 2021 and March 2022.

Alongside gifts from the BGC, operators also spent thousands of pounds on parliamentarians.

Thank you Shadow Health Secretary ⁦@wesstreeting⁩ for speaking with us about the need for proper public health messaging that links addictive gambling products to health harm including deaths.

Someone takes their life every day in the UK because of gambling.#Lab22 pic.twitter.com/zad01nMkCK

— Gambling with Lives (@GambleWithLives) September 28, 2022

MP for Shipley Philip Davies was gifted £1,000 worth of tickets to a Headingly test match by the BGC, as well as a £1,000 ticket to Royal Ascot from Star Sports and a £750 ticket to Cheltenham from Entain.

The likes of Betfred, Sky Betting & Gaming and bet365 have also given gift packages to MPs over the last 16 months.

Matt Zarb-Cousin, director of Clean Up Gambling, said: “The public are sick and tired of MPs on the take, who are lavished with gifts and hospitality in return for supporting a sector that is allowed to harm them and their communities.

“It’s an appalling situation amounting to no more than bribery. If the BGC were confident in the strength of their arguments, they wouldn’t feel the need to be writing cheques,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council said: “In constituencies across the country BGC members support the jobs of 119,000 people – on hard-pressed high streets through betting shops, in hospitality and tourism via casinos and bingo, as well as a large and growing number of tech jobs in the online sector.

“As the standards body for the regulated industry, we strongly support the gambling review, which is an important opportunity to further raise standards and promote safer gambling, and we look forward to the publication of the white paper.

“Any hospitality is consistent with the parliamentary rules and is fully declared and transparent.”