Fourth delay to gambling whitepaper “inexcusable”, campaigners say

A FURTHER delay to vital gambling reform plans is “inexcusable” and will cause “untold grief”, campaigners have said.

Last night, it emerged that a whitepaper on gambling reform will now not be published due to chaos in the Conservative Party.

The document was ready to be signed off before Boris Johnson’s resignation, but officials now advise waiting for the new Prime Minister to be in post, The Guardian reports.

The delay is the fourth since 2020, when a review of gambling laws was ordered by the Government, given concerning gambling-related harms.

Tim Cairns, Senior Policy Officer at CARE, which has spearheaded calls for reform of gambling laws across the UK, commented: “A further delay to the publication of the long-awaited white paper on gambling reform is inexcusable.

“The paper was reportedly ready to be signed off and was a culmination of many months of work and consultation with experts and campaigners.

“There is a democratic and a moral case for green lighting this proposal, and finally allowing parliamentarians to get to grips with it.

“Every day in the UK a person takes their own life because of gambling-related harm. Delaying reform will only causes more, untold grief.

“Given reports that key reforms, such as an industry levy, were to be dropped from the whitepaper, any new Conservative leader coming into office must ask whose side they are on.

“Reform needs to be comprehensive.

“Curbs need to be placed on advertising, on the relationship between gambling and sport, and measures are needed to ensure children are kept safe.

“Given the cost to society of gambling-related harm, a meaningful statutory levy needs to be put in place.

“The industry should be forced to pay for the harm it creates, not the NHS and taxpayers.”