Gambling Bill: Jowell gets tough

Ministers are warning the gaming industry that the Government will scrap the controversial Gambling Bill and reintroduce it after the election rather than agree to the concessions being demanded by casino operators.

Ministers are warning the gaming industry that the Government will scrap the controversial Gambling Bill and reintroduce it after the election rather than agree to the concessions being demanded by casino operators.

The warning comes as the gaming industry embarks on a last-ditch campaign to secure changes in the Bill when it returns to the House of Lords this week for its second reading.

Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) insisted yesterday that it was determined the Bill would reach the statute book, senior Westminster sources made it clear that the Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell, would rather sacrifice the legislation and start again in the next Parliament than succumb to the demands of casino operators for greater liberalisation.

The British Casino Association, which represents 90 per cent of UK casino operators, is incensed at what it claims are measures in the Bill which will favour overseas operators at the expense of home-grown gaming companies.

It is particularly angry about the decision to prevent existing casinos from increasing the number of one-armed bandits they can install to compete with a new breed of so-called super-casinos, which will be allowed to house up to 1,250 machines with unlimited jackpots.

Under intense pressure from social welfare groups, organisations such as the Salvation Army and parts of the media, Ms Jowell watered down the original Bill so that only 24 casinos could be built in total - eight super-casinos, eight large ones with a maximum of 150 one-armed bandits paying out prizes of up to £2,000, and eight small ones with a capacity of 80 machines.

At the same time, she announced that the country's 130 existing casinos, which are allowed to house only 10 machines, would not be permitted to install any more. Unlike new casinos, they will be prevented from offering sports betting and bingo, even though many existing operators such as Rank already run bingo halls. The British Casino Association (BCA) wants the limit on machines raised so that existing casinos can have the same number as new ones, claiming this would result in, at most, an increase of 15 to 20 per cent in the total number of machines.

However, the DCMS estimates this could mean an extra 15,000 machines being installed and has made it plain there are certain "red lines" which it will not cross. "Either the Bill gets a fair wind in the Lords or she is prepared to drop it," one MP close to the minister said.

A spokesman for the BCA insisted, however, that all it was asking for was equal treatment. "At the moment, we feel excluded from what the Government itself admits is an experiment. If that amounts to a red line then it seems to be a very odd one to draw given the strong record of the UK industry and its experience in tackling issues like problem gambling."

Observers suggested there might be an element of sabre-rattling in the Government's stance because it is anxious to get other aspects of the Bill into law to crack down on offshore and internet gambling for the first time, tighten regulation of the gaming industry overall and provide greater protection for children. "It really would be the nuclear option to allow the Bill to die altogether. Nor would groups opposed to gambling be happy to see it killed off because of all the powers it would give the new Gambling Commission," one observer said.

Other options have been canvassed, such as dropping the provisions relating to casinos from the Bill. But time is already extremely tight if the legislation is to become law this Parliament and in any event, the DCMS has rejected that course of action.