The long-awaited White Paper on gambling reform is to be published today, the UK government has confirmed.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer will outline the plans in Parliament later this morning, after months of repeated delays.
Among the headline measures to be unveiled; there will be mandatory checks of punters who lose more than £1,000 a day, or £2,000 in 90-days.
Operators across the industry spectrum will be subject to a mandatory one percent levy.
It is also believed that a limit of £2-a-bet will be imposed on gamblers who are under 25-years-old.
The White Paper Review to reform the UK’s antiquated 2005 Gambling Act and make gambling fit-for-purpose in a digital age dominated by the Smartphone was first unveiled in December, 2020, during the premiership of Boris Johnson.
Oliver Dowden–only elected Deputy Prime Minister days ago, following the defenestration of Dominic Raab–was the then-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the department with overall control of the country’s gambling industry.
The betting business, employs around 100,000 people and is worth at least £10 billion a year, making it the biggest regulated gambling industry in the world.
Following the pro-active move last week by the English Premier League (EPL) to ban front-of-shirt advertising by betting companies, it is–most importantly–further believed that the government has dropped plans to unilaterally ban all gambling advertising in sports.
This will come as a major blow to fierce anti-gambling campaigners who say that around 500 people a year are driven to suicide by their extreme gambling addiction.
As a breaking story, iGamingFuture will keep readers fully updated with reaction and headlines throughout the day.
Watch this space.