Blair defends gambling shake-up
The Prime Minister has strongly defended the Government’s Gambling Bill, arguing that it was important for gambling regulation to be modernised, given that current rules and restrictions were “totally out of date”.
Fielding questions during his monthly press conference, he said that he understood the concerns people had, but sought to stress that the proposed legislation was aimed at “regulating gambling not deregulating gambling”.
Vocal opposition has greeted the Government’s publication of the Gambling Bill, in particular the provision that could see the establishment of 24 hour casinos with unlimited jackpots, with opponents fearing that it could lead to an increase in problem gamblers as well as being detrimental to the areas outside casinos.
Saying that he understood people’s concerns, Mr Blair stressed that gambling was already going on, but with “a whole set of rules and restrictions that are totally out of date”.
The Government’s legislation would result in better protection, the Prime Minister said, through measures such as the removal of slot machines from places where children had access. In return, the Government planned to give local authorities the power to build casinos, within leisure complexes. These would be “directed towards areas of regeneration” he said, maintaining that many areas, such as Blackpool, wanted the proposed complexes as a means to regeneration.
Expansion would be done “in a way that allows us to regulate it properly”, he said.
Mr Blair rejected the suggestion that the Gambling Bill and the Government’s planned relaxation of licensing laws contradicted its stance on crime. Commenting on the suggestion that the Gambling Bill would promote more crime, he said that it was “emphatically not” the case. One of the purposes of the regulation was to “keep crime out”.
He stressed that the legislation was likely to lead to an addition of 20-40 casinos and these were likely to be within larger leisure complexes, which would derive the majority of their income from other activities.
Mr Blair also defended the Government’s plans to relax licensing laws, pointing to the approach adopted across Europe and maintained that there was “no reason” why British citizens could not enjoy a similar system, because of the actions of a minority of “hooligans”.
There was a “quid pro quo” for the relaxation of licensing laws in that residents and local authorities would have the power to close down establishments that were abusing the new laws.
Given that on the one hand the Government was intervening more in people’s lives through its policies on smoking and hunting, but also liberalising activities that some deemed harmful, such as drinking and gambling, Mr Blair was asked what the Government’s common moral theme was. He said that the common moral theme was “doing the sensible thing”.
