Sarah Gardner, the deputy chief executive of the Gambling Commission, said that a first round of white papers consultations on the Gambling Act Review will be published in this summer.
Gardner said that the engagement of stakeholders in pre-consultations has already begun. She said she “was not in a position yet to tell you which they will be”, but that more information would be published in the future.
Commission and Department of Culture, Media and Sport will be consulted on the implementation of many of the provisions in the whitepaper, which was released last month.
Gardner was keynote speaker at the Lotteries Council annual conference, where she made her remarks.
Gardner: Commission should prioritise its work
The deputy CEO stated that it would take a number of years for the Commission to implement the whitepaper in its entirety, but that this does not mean they cannot make rapid progress in some key areas.
Gardner emphasized that both the GC as well as the government must prioritise work. She stressed that the government and GC needed to be “right” in their consultations.
Gardner made it clear that the Commission wanted a diverse range of expertise and experiences to inform how the policy commitments in the white book are translated into reality.
She said: “In my career as a public servant, both in government regulation and in government service, I’ve seen many examples of well-meaning policies having unintended effects for the public because they were implemented in real life.”
I can assure you that we will do everything possible to prevent making this mistake in the implementation. “Less haste and more speed.”
Consultations prove controversial
Some have argued this was due to a backlog of legislation in Parliament due to Brexit. However, Lord Don Foster, a liberal democrat peer and the chairperson of the Peers for Gambling Reform Group told iGB there were many things that could be done with primary legislation.
Lord Foster stated that “for example, the 2005 act gives the Secretary of State the ability to introduce a legal levy.” Lord Foster said: “The Minister can do it any way they choose – this is already in the act.
“We don’t need primary law.” “We have the online safety act, and all these other bills are going through Parliament right now,” is not an acceptable excuse.
Others worry that consultations could be postponed until the General Election of 2024, when the government in power may not have a majority at the House of Commons.
Stuart Andrew, the parliamentary undersecretary for sport, gambling, and civil society in a press conference, confirmed that this was not true.
He said, “We intend to have everything in place and introduced by summer next year. That will allow us to hold the next general elections in time.”
