UK LEGAL COMMENT
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Another day, A
s the UK’s third prime minister in the space of two months takes office, the gambling industry is inevitably wondering what further delays this means for gambling regulation. Rishi Sunak has plenty of issues
to address in his first weeks in the job, so it seems unlikely we will see publication of the Gambling Act White Paper this side of Christmas. The current culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, was appointed by Liz Truss and remains in her post under Sunak’s leadership, but we do have a new Minister responsible for gambling in her department, Paul Scully. When the new team is able to turn to gambling
regulation, what is their input likely to be to a document which, by all accounts, has sat in the No. 10 in-tray in close to final form for the past few months? In March this year, when he held the role of Chancellor,
32 NOVEMBER 2022
Northridge Law’s Melanie Ellis looks at what the UK might expect from another new prime minister
another new PM
Rishi Sunak wrote to then Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries on behalf of the racing industry. In his letter, he raised concerns about the impact of intrusive affordability checks on horse racing, which relies on financial support from betting. He also mentioned the risk of gamblers being pushed to the black market. Sunak’s constituency includes the Catterick racecourse, so in this case he was clearly representing local interests. Whether this translates to his policy decisions as Prime Minister remains to be seen, but it is reasonable to expect he will have these risks in mind when reviewing the draft White Paper. We also cannot rely on the Prime Minister having similar
views when it comes to other gambling products, for example we do not know his views on online slots. It might be that betting enjoys less restrictive measures as a “less risky” activity, whereas stake limits are imposed for online casino activities, subject to affordability assessments. One
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