No one should be surprised that the highly profitable UK gambling industry is intensifying its lobbying efforts, with a view to avoiding both higher taxation and stricter regulation of its activities, including advertising. Establishing a presence, and a voice, in parliament is what the leaders of growing business sectors do, and have done at least since the 18th century, when the brewing interest began to shift from a loose grouping of MPs with family links to breweries, into a national campaign.
In the five years since Michael Dugher, a former Labour MP and shadow culture secretary, became chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, the £11.5bn-a-year industry has seen off a Tory white paper that threatened to curb its advertising, and resisted pressure for the higher taxation that many expected last year. Now, with Rachel Reeves reviewing gambling taxes in advance of the autumn budget, and amid growing calls for ministers to be more active in addressing gambling harms, including addiction, the organisation and its supporters are making fresh efforts to influence MPs in their favour.
