Gambling update and last day reminder!

Gambling is hitting the headlines again for three reasons;

First (and most headline grabbing) is the issue of FOBT’s in betting offices where the Government is reported as saying that it has no plans to restrict these type of machines or their location within premises at present unless there is new evidence that they caused “serious problems”.

However Culture Minister Hugh Robertson is reported as saying: “this is one of those quite tricky areas where commonsense suggests there is a major problem but there is a lack of evidence to back this up”.  He goes on to say “I very much hope that the major research project that is being undertaken will give us the necessary evidence that we need and absolutely ,once that is proved , the Government  will act”

So the story is far from over.

The second item is the Parliamentary Briefing Note on “Licensing and Advertising” and in particular regulation of remote operators outside Great Britain but “selling into” the British market.  The Briefing note can be found HERE.

Finally – as we have repeatedly warned in the past, 11 January (today!) is the last day for operators providing machine games to apply to register with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to avoid a penalty.