UK: “A review of gambling legislation is now inevitable”

The CEO of the Gambling Business Group (GBG) believes the industry should prepare for an inevitable overhaul of gambling legislation.

UK.- Peter Hannibal, CEO of Gambling Business Group (GBG), urged the gambling industry to prepare for an inevitable overhaul of gambling legislation. He also told the retail sector to make sure that it isn’t a secondary consideration when discussing such things.

Hannibal’s comments come just a weeks after the Conservative party released a manifesto in which it said that it would review the Gambling Act and focus on loot boxes and credit cards in gambling, among other things.

“A review of gambling legislation is now inevitable, whatever the make-up of the next parliament,” said Hannibal. He said that this needs to be taken as an opportunity to reset the narrative around gambling in the UK.

However, he believes that this needs a different approach and not just from the industry itself. “This is going to happen, and we need to be preparing for it now. A common voice for the low stake sector has never been more relevant and necessary. We need to examine ways in which the various low stake gaming verticals can collaborate, at the very least on the big-ticket items such as empirical research to help inform the debate.”

“While it could be two years before we see any real movement I think it’s essential that we start the process immediately after we know the outcome of the general election,” he stated. The CEO added that there needs to be a distinction between gaming and gambling.

“Gambling licence fees should not be used for the regulation and policing of the ‘gaming industry’. Loot boxes are not a product of our making and where the concept of ‘let the polluter pay’ is used to justify the Gambling Commission’s financial model and in relation to RET, it should also be applied to the ‘gaming’ industry,” said the GBG CEO about gambling legislation.

“Members of the industry who were around at the time will remember that the 2005 Act was intended to be an ‘enabling Act’, designed to be able to accommodate and adapt to technological change. Best intentions never materialised because the negative narrative killed off the political appetite. Both of the main parties are now on the same page which makes change inevitable whatever the outcome of the December 12 election. This is an opportunity to start over and we must use it.”