No gambling provisions will be attached to the Wales Bill

The UK government will not allow the Wales Bill to be amended in order to add new gambling provisions for the national assembly.

UK.- The UK government will not allow the Wales Bill to be amended in order to add new gambling provisions for the national assembly. On Monday Labour and Plaid Cymru attempted to add “final hour” provisions to the bill, aiming to give the Welsh assembly the right to restrict and regulate gambling machines on betting shop premises.

Late in the week and as the Wales Bill reached Commons, UK MPs were adamant that the bill should not be redrawn with new gambling provisions which could hinder its progress. Furthermore, Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns stressed that Welsh gambling regulations had not been specified in the cross-party Silk Commission assessing the “devolution settlement of Wales.”

“Now, betting, gaming and lotteries are not devolved to the Assembly and will be reserved subjects under the Bill. The Silk Commission made no representations on the devolution of these and so the subject was not considered by the St David’s Day process, the thread of thinking that came from the Silk Commission.” declared Cairns.

Although new gambling provisions will not be attached to the Wales Bill as its attempts to reach the House of Lords, Labour and Plaid Cymru officials stated that the subject matter would likely be reviewed following the bill’s future implementation.