On September 6 Liz Truss took center stage in one of the U.K.’s most symbolic centuries-old traditions, making the pilgrimage to Balmoral Castle to accept the position as Queen Elizabeth II’s first minister, just a two days before the beloved monarch passed away on September 8 at the age of 96.
Truss won a two-person race for Conservative leader between her and Rishi Sunak, which was decided by 180,000 party members who received their ballots by mail in August.
Truss is now the third woman to serve as prime minister (PM). The Conservative leader begins with a lot on her plate: rampaging inflation, an energy crisis, high taxes, labor unrest, a strained health care system due to long waiting lists and personnel shortages, not to mention the Ukraine war. She has to make decisions that will dramatically affect the electorate in a good way in less than two years, or else she faces the possibility of losing the next election. Probably far down in her list of priorities is gambling reform.
With winter approaching, Brits will begin to focus on keeping warm, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is complicating things. Due to the fact that the U.K. and most other European nations are economically punishing Russia and longtime president Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine, energy prices are almost certain to reach unsustainable levels. Putin’s decision to punish Europe by closing the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline is only expected to make things worse.
Truss succeeds the charismatic, urbane but morally compromised Boris Johnson—who lost his job not because he wasn’t popular, but because he was caught violating Covid rules that ordinary citizens had endured for two years. He resigned after three years in office.
Johnson announced his departure two months ago, and laced his farewell speech with typically flamboyant language: “I am like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function. I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.” He added, “Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plow.”
Some observers believe that the new PM might be less strict about gaming regulations than her predecessor. She is unlikely to want to cut into the profits of an industry that contributes so much in tax revenues.
Similarly, Truss is not expected to spend a lot of resources on gaming reform. A government white paper that was supposed to be released in September that would be the blueprint for reforming the Gambling Act of 2005 will likely be pushed back as Truss populates her new government with ministers loyal to her. The white paper might even be discarded in favor of a new beginning.
Of course, if the prime minister isn’t able to right the ship and overcome 18 percent inflation, there won’t be a lot of discretionary spending for casinos and betting shops. Truss has indicated that fighting inflation is the first priority of her new government.
In her first address as prime minister in front of No. 10 Downing Street, Truss declared, “I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”
She plans to cap energy bills with taxpayer subsidies of as much as £100 billion ($116 billion.)
Prior to the election of Truss, British betting markets kept a running tab on the odds of whether she or Sunak would win. Near the end of the five-week campaign Sunak’s odds shrank to 27/1. When Truss’s victory became a foregone conclusion, the betting markets shifted over to speculation about who she would select for various cabinet positions with a shake-up virtually guaranteed.
Truss’ first move in the gaming space may not make the industry happy, however. Truss’ appointment to lead the agency that oversees gaming, the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Michelle Donelan, has been a longtime critic of the industry. Donelan backed the strong pull back and low betting limits of FOBTs, the electronic games that were the backbone of many high-street bookmakers in the UK, and also supported a limit on gambling advertising, some of which is incorporated into the pending changes to the gaming act.
But despite her critical stand on some gaming issues, not much is known about Donelan’s overall view of gaming. She briefly assumed the role of education secretary in the waning days of the Boris Johnson administration and she has stated that’s where her interest lies. As a party loyalist, she was expected to be offered a cabinet post, just not this one.
For the time being, junior minister Damian Collins, who has been taking the lead on the DCMS gaming issues, remains in place.
Due to the current uncertainty due to the new government, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is pumping the brakes on planned reforms. It announced September 2 it would not require operators to stop marketing to consumers who are considered to be at-risk of gambling addiction. The requirement is being postponed until February or perhaps indefinitely.
The UKGC said some of the Social Responsibility Code Provision 3.4.3 would go into effect on September 12 but the most onerous provisions would not. Industry representatives had requested an extension because of technological challenges.
Instead, the UKGC will consult directly with gaming sector representatives. The focus of that meeting will be bonus offers. It will push ahead with the requirement that operators work harder to identify potential gambling harm and develop AI systems to help them do that.
However, operators won’t be required to consider the UKGC’s guidance on customer interaction for remote operators, which was published three months ago. Instead, the commission will hold a consultation with stakeholders.
The commission issued this statement: “After careful consideration, we have decided that the majority of the new requirements will come into force as planned on 12 September. Remote gambling operators are already subject to a duty to conduct effective customer interaction, and the new requirements reflect the minimum steps that we consider are necessary to meet that duty.”
