Stuart Andrew, the former Conservative gambling minister, has been named the as the shadow culture secretary in Kemi Badenoch’s first shadow cabinet as the new Tory leader.
Badenoch, who acceded to the role after party members voted for her in favour of fellow contender Robert Jenrick, has set about building her top team as the Tories settle into opposition.
Andrew stepped down as gambling minister ahead of July’s general election, having served in the role within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) since February 2023.
His Pudsey constituency in West Yorkshire was removed from the electoral map following boundary changes. As a result, he stood and won in his new constituency of Daventry, some 129 miles away in Northamptonshire, by a majority of 3,012.
Andrew’s appointment by Badenoch means he will have policy oversight of the gambling sector.
He was gambling minister when the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review was published in April 2023.
However, he faced heavy criticism for the rollout of affordability checks, since rebranded as financial risk checks, from horseracing stakeholders.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Festival in March, Andrew claimed the checks were nothing to do with the Conservative government and that operators had been the driving force behind their implementation.
At the time, he said there had been an “inconsistent approach” to the matter and insisted he did not want to harm or hamper the horseracing industry.
The MP was one of several gambling ministers to take the brief following the Tories’ 2019 general election win, with the party’s manifesto that year promising an overhaul of UK gambling regulations.
Previous incumbents in the role include Badenoch’s new shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, and former Tory chair Sir Oliver Dowden.
Since the Tories were trounced at the polls by Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party in July, there has been no significant alterations in gambling legislation.
Labour’s manifesto included just 37 words on the topic, while the sector was not mentioned at all in the King’s Speech.
Baroness Twycross was drafted in from the House of Lords to become gambling minister, with Stephanie Peacock not reprising the role she held when Labour was in opposition.
There were concerns that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves would hike gambling taxes as part of Labour’s first Budget since 2010.
However, the industry was able to breathe a collective sigh of relief as the government kicked the can down the road, promising to review the three-tax structure in 2025 to introduce a simpler framework.
London-listed operators’ shares spiked on the news, having plummeted earlier in October after a report in The Guardian claimed Reeves was considering radical proposals from left-leaning think tanks.
The Institute of Policy Research had suggested raising remote gaming duty, or online casino tax, from 21% to 50%, and doubling general betting duty from 15% to 30%.
In addition, the Social Market Foundation had argued for the rate to be doubled to 42%, with senior fellow James Noyes calling Labour’s failure to hike taxes “regrettable”.
EGR spoke to several stakeholders following the Budget to gauge their reaction on what the lack of action could mean for the sector.
Image credit: UK Parliament/Creative Commons
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