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Report: Britain should loosen gaming laws
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON -- Britain's gambling laws should be liberalized to permit Las Vegas-style casinos and gaming resorts, a government-commissioned review said today.
The report, which is the first wide-ranging review of the gaming industry for more than 30 years, called for many of the current restrictions to be scrapped.
Under Britain's 1968 Gaming Act, casinos are permitted only in 53 designated areas, and they cannot provide music or live entertainment or serve alcohol at gambling tables. Slot machine jackpots are limited and gamblers must apply for membership 24 hours before they enter a casino.
The government did not immediately indicate whether it planned to introduce legislation to implement the report's recommendations, but said gambling laws were in need of reform.
The review, led by former Treasury adviser Sir Alan Budd, also called for "socially responsible" controls to curb betting among those under 18 and to protect gambling addicts.
"We believe that gambling is an enjoyable and predominantly harmless leisure activity for adults," Budd said as he released the report at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in London today.
"The case for regulating it and, in particular, for restricting the freedom for adults to gamble how, where and when they wish cannot be taken for granted," he said. "It has to be justified."
Budd said regulations should be simplified to "provide increased choice for adults in a more competitive market," while reducing gambling opportunities for young people.
The report was welcomed in Blackpool, a coastal resort 200 miles northwest of London, where business and council leaders have already unveiled ambitious plans for up to six casino hotels offering 24-hour gambling.
Plans have been drawn up for one hotel, given the working title of Pharaoh's Palace, which would have 1,000 rooms, a theater for entertainers and a range of luxury shops, along with space to hold 3,000 slot machines and 80 gambling tables.
"This is the green light for the introduction of resort casinos in Blackpool, and it is great news for the people of the town," said Alan Cavill, manager of the Blackpool Challenge Partnership, a consortium of 50 organizations including the local council and the town's main employers.
The review also recommends a ban on slot machines in cafes -- an effort to control the spread of gambling among under-18s -- and calls for a new commission to be set up to regulate all gambling activities.
"The most difficult general issue that we have had to solve concerns the familiar dilemma between the desire to permit free choice and the fear that such choice may lead to harm either to the individual or to society more widely," the report said. "This move to greater freedom is balanced by rather tighter controls over those who provide gambling services."
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell welcomed the report, and said she hoped it would spark a debate on how the proposals would work.
"Our present gambling laws are badly in need of reform and updating. But reform must go hand in hand with tough, practical measures to protect young and vulnerable people," she said.
"There is no doubt that our current laws, as well as being too complex and out of date, fail to reflect the extent to which gambling has become an everyday part of the way millions of people spend their leisure."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON -- Britain's gambling laws should be liberalized to permit Las Vegas-style casinos and gaming resorts, a government-commissioned review said today.
The report, which is the first wide-ranging review of the gaming industry for more than 30 years, called for many of the current restrictions to be scrapped.
Under Britain's 1968 Gaming Act, casinos are permitted only in 53 designated areas, and they cannot provide music or live entertainment or serve alcohol at gambling tables. Slot machine jackpots are limited and gamblers must apply for membership 24 hours before they enter a casino.
The government did not immediately indicate whether it planned to introduce legislation to implement the report's recommendations, but said gambling laws were in need of reform.
The review, led by former Treasury adviser Sir Alan Budd, also called for "socially responsible" controls to curb betting among those under 18 and to protect gambling addicts.
"We believe that gambling is an enjoyable and predominantly harmless leisure activity for adults," Budd said as he released the report at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in London today.
"The case for regulating it and, in particular, for restricting the freedom for adults to gamble how, where and when they wish cannot be taken for granted," he said. "It has to be justified."
Budd said regulations should be simplified to "provide increased choice for adults in a more competitive market," while reducing gambling opportunities for young people.
The report was welcomed in Blackpool, a coastal resort 200 miles northwest of London, where business and council leaders have already unveiled ambitious plans for up to six casino hotels offering 24-hour gambling.
Plans have been drawn up for one hotel, given the working title of Pharaoh's Palace, which would have 1,000 rooms, a theater for entertainers and a range of luxury shops, along with space to hold 3,000 slot machines and 80 gambling tables.
"This is the green light for the introduction of resort casinos in Blackpool, and it is great news for the people of the town," said Alan Cavill, manager of the Blackpool Challenge Partnership, a consortium of 50 organizations including the local council and the town's main employers.
The review also recommends a ban on slot machines in cafes -- an effort to control the spread of gambling among under-18s -- and calls for a new commission to be set up to regulate all gambling activities.
"The most difficult general issue that we have had to solve concerns the familiar dilemma between the desire to permit free choice and the fear that such choice may lead to harm either to the individual or to society more widely," the report said. "This move to greater freedom is balanced by rather tighter controls over those who provide gambling services."
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell welcomed the report, and said she hoped it would spark a debate on how the proposals would work.
"Our present gambling laws are badly in need of reform and updating. But reform must go hand in hand with tough, practical measures to protect young and vulnerable people," she said.
"There is no doubt that our current laws, as well as being too complex and out of date, fail to reflect the extent to which gambling has become an everyday part of the way millions of people spend their leisure."