UK Labour MP calls for new Gambling Act

Alex Ballinger, Labour MP for Halesowen, has called for work to begin on a new Gambling Act.

Speaking at an SMF Panel on machine games duty (MGD) and social harms, Ballinger suggested that, in his capacity as co-chair of the APPG for Gambling Reform: “We would like to look in the medium term for a new Gambling Act to recognise the complete change that we’ve seen in the types of gambling, the new forms of online gambling and the like.”

The politician appeared at the presentation on 30 June to lend his support to the SMF’s new policy paper calling for a doubling of machine gaming duty to 40%.

Following on from its success lobbying government around the previous autumn budget with regards to a rise in remote gaming duty, the thinktank has now trained its crosshairs on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) or FOBTs.

While the treasury raised remote gaming duty and general betting duty in the UK, machine gaming duty escaped the reforms, a decision the SMF argued runs contrary to the government’s own guiding logic.

The new report reads: “The Government agrees taxes should be set relative to harm – but this logic is not applied to machine gaming.”

Ballinger, who wrote the foreword for the report, called the proposal “compelling” and touched on the political angle to pursuing a reform such as this.

The political reality

In short, he believes it would be “easy to do.”

With a new Prime Minister on his way to Number 10 following the resignation of Keir Starmer, there is reason to believe that lobbyists could be successful again with another gambling tax and reform campaign. 

Whisper it quietly, but MP for Makerfield Andy Burnham has been rumoured to be in the running for the top job. 

With Starmer reportedly giving short shrift to the former Mayor of Manchester’s request for more preparation time, Burnham will have to square his vision for the country in short order.

The SMF wants machine gaming duty to be raised specifically on category B machines, the sort commonly found in adult gaming centres (AGCs) and retail betting shops.

These AGCs are concentrated heavily in the most deprived areas of the country, though Ballinger says that Burnham’s “strong track record of caring about the issues we’re talking about” means it is “no surprise” that Manchester, Burnham’s former manor, had one third the amount AGCs than Birmingham (6 to 18).

He adds that “this seems like an easy win,” and has called the SMF’s proposals a “no brainer.”

Citing the rare public and political popularity of gambling tax hikes, he told the audience that, in his experience “the public are really annoyed and pissed off with the amount of gambling advertising they’re seeing, particularly around the World Cup, with the cross selling that happens whenever they go horse racing, or they get go to the bingo, pushing them to more harmful forms of gambling.”

But where the SMF defended its position by making clear the narrow remit of its new proposal, Ballinger was minded to push the conversation on.

Can the industry take more upheaval?

A new Gambling Act would indeed be some undertaking, coming so soon after the last overhaul.

But despite the MP acknowledging the achievements of the 2023 white paper, implemented under a Conservative government, he claimed that the 2005 Gambling Act was still “just scratching the surface in terms of the amount of harm.”

The white paper made 60 recommendations, which are still being debated, contested and implemented, but Ballinger insists there would be support from the parliamentary Labour party for a new piece of foundational legislation.

He added: “I’m hoping the new Prime Minister is one of them, but that’s yet to be tested. We’ll have to speak to him, and I think the work could happen in less time than four years.”

With an eye to the task ahead, Ballinger deferred slightly, stating: “It may not be realistic for us to be talking about doing that this parliament, but we can get it ready to be in a manifesto for a future Labor government, potentially.”

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