Paul Scully has been appointed U.K. undersecretary for tech and the digital economy within the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS). He will be in charge of the Gambling Act of 2005 review.
Scully is the fifth minister to oversee the review, replacing Damian Collins, who announced on October 27 that he was leaving the government. The process began in 2018 with Nigel Huddleston, who led it for three years. During that time the government launched a consultation of proposed changes.
In 2021 Huddleston was replaced by John Whittingdale, who directed the first draft of the Gambling Act white paper. In a few months he was replaced by Chris Philip, who brought the white paper to the point where it had been expected to be released this summer. However, he resigned in July, when the chaos created by the resignation of the Boris Johnson government set that process back again. Collins took over, once again delaying the white paper.
With the resignation of the Liz Truss government last month, Collins left too and now Scully is in charge of gaming in the new government of Rishi Sunak.
Scully is an MP from London who has since 2020 served as minister for London and was until recently parliamentary undersecretary for small business.
Commenting on his new role, Scully declared, “I’m excited to get stuck into my new role as minister for tech at DCMS and am delighted to continue the work with so many friends as minister for London.”
Michael Dugher, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, an industry association, issued this statement upon Scully’s appointment: “On behalf of the 119,000 people whose jobs are supported by our members—from the high street to hospitality, from tourism to world-leading British tech—I’d like to congratulate both Paul Scully MP on his new role and Michelle Donelan MP on her re-appointment as secretary of state for DCMS.” Dugher added, “Our industry generates £4.5 billion in taxes for the Treasury and contributes £7.7 billion for the economy in gross value added.”
He called for working with the DCMS “to find proportionate measures which achieve the right balance. We want to continue to drive big changes and drive higher standards on safer gambling to better protect the most vulnerable, while at the same time ensuring that the 22.5 million punters who enjoy a flutter each month, perfectly safely and responsibly, have the freedom to do so.”
