Last week at the GambleAware Conference, stakeholders examined the government’s plans for the design and structure of the statutory levy on problem gambling research, education and treatment.

On the latest episode of iGaming Daily, Joe Streeter, Editor of CasinoBeats, was joined by SBC’s Content Director, Ted Menmuir, to recap the event.

Headlining the conference was Labour’s Gambling Minister, Baroness Twycross, who made her first speech to the industry.

Reflecting on the speech, Joe, who was at the event, said: “I think one place she will try and take aim is advertising. I don’t think we are off the hook yet. I think gambling advertising is at risk of potentially being threatened.

“She also underlined the importance of collaboration and continuing to collaborate. There was some room for optimism for the industry from here speech though, she did say that we need to work with the industry and ensure that the industry is heard.”

Ted added that he believes that the speech was positive given that the government appear to be “committed to its campaign manifesto of delivering resolutions for gambling”.

Following the threat of tax rises during the October budget and the subsequent confirmation of the RET Levy, Ted explained that all eyes now will be on how the DCMS delivers the remaining reforms of the gambling review.

He said: “The focus now has returned to the evaluation that was announced by the DCMS on the gambling review. The factors that are going to determine how successful Gambling Reviews’s White Paper recommendations are will be the impact not only on UK consumers but on UK society and whether changes have had a positive outcome.

“This isn’t going to happen over a six-month period, the evaluation is carried over. The other factor here is that I think they’re adding a lot more conditions of how you evaluate problem gambling dynamics, one of them being the lived experience group and referencing that with an overall evaluation of the framework for the gambling review. 

“Everything evolves around these deep interplays for UK gambling and you can never just define one outcome.”

Tim Miller, Executive Director of the UK Gambling Commission, also spoke at the conference and he emphasised the need for the UK’s financial sector to play a bigger role in tackling problem gambling, especially at the first point of risk.

Joe said: “There were a couple of panels there around data and ensuring the role of the financial sector is implemented and is maximised as well and how we can look at other industries.

“The gambling industry is very unique, but the role of the financial sector was pinpointed as being crucial and best for tapping into data.”