Alex Balligner, the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for gambling reform, has called for a new Gambling Act, just three years after the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review was published.
Speaking at a Social Market Foundation (SMF) event in London on Tuesday, 30 June, the Labour MP for Halesowen said a new act could arrive in the “medium term”.
Ballinger was on a panel as the SMF announced its policy proposal to up machine games duty on Category B machines from 20% to 40%.
As part of his prepared remarks, Ballinger said: “There are lots of things that we should be doing in this space, like tougher regulations on gambling advertising.
“I think we would like to look in the medium term for a new gambling act to recognise a complete change that we’ve seen in the types of gambling, the new forms of online gambling and the like.”
When asked by EGR to expand on these comments given the white paper was published in 2023 after being announced in the Conservative Party 2019 election manifesto, Ballinger said that process was “just scratching the surface”.
The white paper produced at least 60 recommendations to implement, including slots stake limits, mixed promotion bans and an ombudsman.
Ballinger said: “I’m really glad that they’ve been recommended. We’ve got the [statutory] levy now, extra support for tackling gambling harms, and a few changes around stake limits
“I think everyone recognises that’s just scratching the surface in terms of the amount of harm and how much the industry has changed since 2005.
“We didn’t have smartphones at that time, online gambling was just really starting out, very nascent, we didn’t have the direct marketing, use of algorithms to target people, and we didn’t, frankly, have the evidence base that showed the number of problem gamblers that are really targeted by the industry and that contributing to massive profits.”
Ballinger also pointed to support from the Labour backbenchers, many of which entered parliament in 2024 as the party secured a landslide victory in the general election.
Ballinger himself is one of the 2024 cohort.
He continued: “I think there is huge arguments to go forward with the new Gambling Act. It’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take a lot of convincing inside government.
“There are many people in the Labour Party that would like us to do this. I’m hoping the new prime minister is one of them, but that’s yet to be tested.
“We’ll have to speak to him, and I think the work could happen in less time than four years, so it may not be realistic to be for us to be talking about doing that this parliament. We could get it ready to be in a manifesto for a future Labour government, potentially.”
Andy Burnham, the recently elected Labour MP in Makerfield, is expected to become prime minister next month following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation.
Burnham has been vocal in his opposition to Adult Gaming Centres, establishments that would be most impacted by the proposed SMF policy.
Ballinger said Burnham has a “strong track record of caring about the issues we’re talking about” and the SMF proposal was a “no-brainer”.
He continued: “I think there is real hope, there’s real reason to do it, and we have a huge tranche of Labour MPs that are interested. There were over 100 that signed the last letter to do a more regulation on gambling, that’s a quarter of the parliamentary Labour party, and that doesn’t include all of the people on the front bench that were interested, that were unable to sign it.”
When asked by EGR if the white paper was a failure, Ballinger said: “I think the white paper has made real progress and has been positive, but we need to go further.”
The post Labour MP calls for new Gambling Act first appeared on EGR Intel.
Alex Ballinger says white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review was “just scratching the surface” as he reveals desire to lay groundwork for potential new Act by end of parliament
The post Labour MP calls for new Gambling Act first appeared on EGR Intel.