My time as Director General at what is now the Ministry of Justice has proved useful background to running a law enforcement body with a new Act that has not yet been fully tested in the courts. And more recently I have been able to draw on the insights gained from six years as a non-executive Director of a regulated plc.
The relocation of the commission is alleged to have gone over-budget. Is the organisation now operating within its budget parameters? The fact that the relocation was over budget is a myth. In fact we were able to complete the relocation without drawing on the full Grant in Aid available from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I think some people have been misled by the fact that our accounts show a deficit on current account for the early years. This is because we deliberately chose to spread the payment of our set- up costs (relocation, recruitment and training) through fees over the first five years rather than load them up front.
As our costs are funded through licence fees paid by the industry we did not wish to put extra pressure on the existing gambling industry in the first years of the new regulatory system.
Is the organisation able to affect gaming legislation changes or can that only be accomplished by Government? The Commission is the government’s statutory adviser on gambling regulation so it potentially has a real influence on legislation. In addition the Commission has considerable discretion over the licence conditions and social responsibility codes it specifies for its licence holders – and these have the force of law.
What are the most commonly asked questions by the Casino Industry? Secondly, what is the Commission doing about illegal poker? First of all the industry wants to understand why can’t existing casinos have greater freedoms in relation to offering betting and why can’t they offer higher stakes and have more gaming machines? Clearly, these restrictions were set by parliament under the Act and are issues for government to consider.
Illegal poker is one of a number of issues that we are tackling together with local licensing authorities (with whom we share gambling regulation) around the country.
Poker is played in pubs and clubs throughout the country and there are a number of legitimate poker leagues keeping to the low-stake limits. However,
where there are concerns about a premises we expect the licensing authority to lead on tackling the issue by, for example, talking to the alcohol licence holder, who is usually keen to put things right.
Additionally, as part of our expert and supporting role to licensing authorities, we have been working nationally to help them understand that a members club must be a genuine members club if it is to host unlimited equal chance gaming such as poker. As part of that work we have recently published further advice on poker in clubs.
Do you anticipate a different approach towards the Gambling Industry from the current Government than that of the previous Labour administration? It’s too early to say given the immediate priorities of the new government have been focussed on the economy. The concern about problem gambling and the need to understand better what causes the small minority to develop problems is common to both governments.
Is it the opinion of the Commission that the figures, from the recently published Gambling Prevalence Study, indicate that the long awaited liberalization of the Industry in UK has had no significant negative effect on problem gambling levels? There has certainly been an increase in participation in gambling and also probably some associated increase in problem gambling, though it is not possible to say whether this represents an upward trend or a temporary fluctuation.
The proportions increased from 0.5% of the adult population in 2007 to 0.7% in 2010 (which is not statistically significant) on one measure and from 0.6% in 2007 to 0.9% in 2010 (which is at the margins of statistical significance) on the other measure used.
Is it not the case that the Survey shows that countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Norway, although having a more restrictive gambling environment, have not reduced the figures on problem gambling below that of the UK. Yes, however, it is difficult to compare figures directly as the figures are derived in different ways. Different countries use different approaches to their surveys and measure problem gambling using a number of different problem gambling screens.
Moreover, the surveys were undertaken at different times (we refer to the most recent) so are not
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