The British government spent the last few years analysing and updating the gambling rules and regulations. And it was to put forward its gambling white paper last year before stalling the publication multiple times. Consequently, it appeared as if the government would release its plans sometime in September.
This was before Prime Minister Boris Johnson passed the baton to Liz Truss. According to reports, the government is scrapping several proposed legislative changes, with one of them being gambling reform. It also confirmed that the current Prime Minister and her new cabinet are dumping energy reform and a fresh bill of rights, as per The Guardian reports.
Concurrently, animal welfare, online harms bill and gambling reform could be discarded as well. There was already a sense of gambling reform not being the priority as the new cabinet got into its groove. And Truss’s recent remarks continued to unsettle the upper and lower ranks of the legislative structure, and it has seemed to reinforce belief.
“Government’s role should not be to tell us what our tastes should be. Too often we’re hearing about not drinking too much, eating too many doughnuts,” Truss was quoted as saying in casino.org. Truss has also made it clear that she does not want the government to be at the helm of running people’s lives. She also stated that the government is not responsible for people’s actions or thoughts. She also made it clear that she opts for a softer approach to being in charge of the country.
However, the Government is unlikely to put aside the matter completely despite potentially scrapping the white paper. It is expected that it will rework from the beginning taking into account the current analysis and research as well as inputs from the gaming industry. Incidentally, as per the UK Gambling Commission the voluntary responsible gambling programs have reduced the incidents of problem gambling in the country.
