Tory leadership hopeful calls for compulsory problem gambling levy
Former culture secretary Matt Hancock pledges to introduce 1% tax on bookmaker profits
Former Culture Secretary Matt Hancock has promised to impose a 1% compulsory levy on bookmakers to fund problem gambling treatment if he becomes Prime Minister.
Hancock, one of ten leadership contenders for the Conservative Party, told The Sun newspaper that the betting industry had “not taken this issue seriously enough” and had failed to take responsibility for addressing gambling-related harm.
“Since voluntary contributions have not worked, I will use the powers government already has to make it happen.” Hancock added.
Hancock is not the first MP to call for a compulsory levy, with Labour deputy leader Tom Watson calling for the introduction of a similar levy in September 2017.
Inspired by those he's met with gambling addictions at both DCMS and Health, this is excellent from @MattHancock https://t.co/uuGT61QfE1
— Tracey Crouch (@tracey_crouch) June 11, 2019
A 100-1 outsider for the Tory leadership, Hancock previously served as Culture Secretary since January 2018, before being promoted to Health Secretary as part of Theresa May’s cabinet reshuffle in July 2018.
Hancock remains a rank-outsider for the top job, with Boris Johnson still the bookies favourite
Gambling Commission chairman William Moyes has also previously called for the introduction of a compulsory levy on all operators to fund problem gambling treatment.
Moyes said compulsory funding would allow the UKGC to take a “long-term” approach to addressing problem gambling in the UK. These sentiments were echoed by charity GambleAware, which called on operators to “significantly step-up” their voluntary funding, which is currently capped at 0.1% of gross gambling yield per annum.
Compulsory funding hit the headlines last month following a British Medical Journal report which claimed that Britain was “woefully under-resourced” in terms of research, education and treatment (RET) funding for problem gambling.
However many inside the industry suggest that a compulsory levy is not needed at present with bookmakers already investing above and beyond just the published donations to GambleAware, while there is still uncertainty over exactly how much money is needed and how it should be spent.