Betting curbs for under-25s and online slot limits - gambling crackdown details
Punters who lose £1,000 in a month will face checks on their finances under a long-delayed overhaul of gambling rules.
Under-25s are set to be banned from betting more than £2 per spin on online slot machines, while firms will have to stump up cash to pay for NHS care for addicts.
But campaigners criticised ministers as they decided not to ban gambling advertising and sponsorship in football.
The government was also accused of dither and delay as it admitted the changes, which it is yet to finalise, may not be introduced until summer next year.
Problem gambling affects an estimated 300,000 people, with warnings online gaming has fuelled addiction.
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Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “We live in an age where people have a virtual mobile casino in their pockets.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said people now have a virtual mobile casino in their pockets (PA)“It has made gambling easier, quicker and often more fun, but when things go wrong it can see people lose thousands of pounds in a few swipes of the screen.”
She added: “We need a new approach that reflects that a flutter is one thing, unchecked addiction is another.”
Gamblers who lose large sums online will face checks on the finances. If someone loses £125 in a day sites will check whether they have previously been bankrupt.
If they make losses of £1,000 in 24 hours or £2,000 over 90 days they will undergo a credit check similar to when signing up for a mobile phone contract.
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Punters will be unaware that these financial checks are being performed in the background. The rules will not apply to high street bookies.
Online slot machines will have stake limits of between £2 and £15 per spin under changes that will be consulted on. Young people aged between 18 and 24 are expected to face a £2 limit.
Betting firms will have to pay a levy, expected to be at least 1% on revenues, that will contribute towards research into and treatment for gambling addiction.
West Ham are one of eight Premier League clubs to be sponsored by a gambling firm (Action Foto Sport/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)Ministers have avoided a significant clampdown on betting advertising and marketing rules.
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The Premier League has already announced a voluntary ban on gambling sponsorship on the front of match-day shirts, which will come into force after the 2025/26 season.
But MPs urged them to go further. The SNP’s Ronnie Cowan said: "If the adverts do harm, they've all got to go, all shirts, all round the stadium, all round the pitch, in between games, on the television, on the radio. If advertising does harm, all advertising has to go."
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said: "On advertising and children, I simply want to say: not far enough.”
The gambling shake-up, which was first promised in 2020, was delayed four times. In the end it was overseen by four culture secretaries.
Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell said it was not good enough to wait until next summer for the changes to come in.
The Labour frontbencher said: “There’s no reason we can’t get all this done by [this] summer and after years of delay, that’s what we should do.”
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