Nick Rust, CEO of the British Horseracing Authority, wants the UK government to allow betting shops to reopen after December 2 even if they are located in an area that calls for closures to remain.
The move seems to have worked as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a winter plan for Covid-19 that could see betting shops gain permission to stay open throughout the country’s tier system. However, casinos will have to shut down in the regions under the most severe restrictions.
The UK uses a tiered system to determine areas where Covid-19 closures may stay in effect even after the national closings end on December 2. Rust, however, says there is no evidence that betting shops have contributed to spreading the coronavirus.
“Cabinet has been meeting to discuss what is going to happen, so we’re waiting on the news to see what happens,” Rust said on UK media. “We’ve made clear to the government as best we can that we don’t see the case for betting shops being treated differently from other so called ‘non-essential retail’ and we hope they take that into account when making their decisions. There is no evidence we have seen through the work done with the BGC through the test and trace system that betting shops have been a contributor to the spread of the virus.”
Michael Dugher, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council also made a plea to Cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Matt Hancock, stating that venues “will go even further” to ensure that they are COVID secure.
The BGC has advised betting shops to the length of time customers can stay in their premises, restrict the number of customers allowed in shops at one time as well as closing vending facilities.
Casinos would ceases running table games and venues will be limited to 25% capacity. Alcohol sales would stop.
Betting shops and casinos in England were forced to close for four weeks under new Covid-19 restrictions, which is expected to cost the racing industry more than £12.5 million in lost levy rights and media rights payments due to the closure of England’s 5681 betting shops.
While gaming officials welcomed the news that most betting shops in tier 3 areas would remain open, they did say that the casino closings were disappointing.
“Casinos are best-in-class amongst the hospitality sector when it comes to anti-COVID measures. There is no evidence that they contribute to the spread of the virus,” Dugher said. “So, it remains extremely disappointing that they are still being ordered to close in Tier 3 areas.
