It’s official. The long-awaited, oft-delayed review of the UK’s Gambling Act of 2005 is being delayed until the UK has a new prime minister.
Though there hasn’t been an official announcement of this latest delay yet, Daily Mail reporter Tom Witherow broke the news in a Tweet reading, “Breaking: The gambling white paper has been delayed until a new Prime Minister takes office. No 10 feel it is inappropriate to ‘bind’ the new administration, sources said. This is the FOURTH delay after Covid, a change of ministers, and finally internal battles in No 10.”
UK-facing gambling operators could be looking at significant changes to their businesses once the review is released, adding more frustration to the delays. Prior reporting from the Daily Mail and Times have indicated that the white paper will recommend. “non-intrusive affordability checks’ and imposing a £2-to-£5 stake limits on online casino.”
The online rumor mill has been rife with speculation that the white paper will recommend limiting players to £500 in online gambling losses a year.
Much of the speculation is based on leaked draft copies of the papers, but nothing has been confirmed by the authors of the paper.
Iain Duncan Smith, deputy leader of the anti-gambling caucus known as the Gambling Related Harm APPG assured the public that the review would be released saying, “I‘m very disappointed. There was an opportunity to get this done long before this leadership election. It’s not cancelled, just postponed – so it will be for the new leader. I’m not going away, I will keep fighting for reform.”
The UK’s current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is set to leave office in September.