UK gambling set for new oversight as Labour win election

The UK gambling industry’s white paper will fall under new scrutiny after Labour won a landslide majority in the general election.

The new politicians set to be in charge of gambling policy in the UK will be confirmed at a later date.

However, Thangam Debbonaire, the former shadow Culture Secretary, will not be in line to lead the Department for Culture, Media and Sport after she lost the Bristol Central seat to the Green Party.

“Across the country people have voted for a Labour government and I couldn’t be prouder of my part in seeing that happen. Fourteen long years of chaos and division have finally come to an end,” Debbonaire said.

However, there was better news for Labour’s Stephanie Peacock, the shadow gambling minister under the Conservatives, who held onto her Barnsley South constituency.

At the time of writing with five seats still to be declared, new prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour had won 411 seats – up by 210 – with the Conservatives losing 249 to stand on 119 seats out of the 650 available.

The result will impact the future direction of the UK’s white paper on gambling reform, which the Conservatives were progressing alongside the UK’s regulator, the Gambling Commission.

The regulator is continuing its own timeline of consultations, including new land-based proposals this summer, but government-led proposals, such as a statutory levy on operators to fund gambling harm research, education and prevention, have now been put into some doubt.

Labour simply said in its manifesto that it was “committed to reducing gambling harm.”

“Recognising the evolution of the gambling landscape since 2005, Labour will reform gambling regulation, strengthening protections,” it added.

The gambling industry was a key factor throughout the general election campaign after it emerged that a number of Conservatives and Labour representatives were involved in a Gambling Commission probe over betting on the timing of the vote.