Bacta meet with the Minister and explore industry road map

A senior Bacta delegation, comprising National President Gabi Stergides, President elect James Miller and CEO John White met last week with the Gambling Minister Mims Davies and her Civil Service advisers. The meeting, which took place on Wednesday 6 February, was held at Portcullis House and followed the Minister’s attendance at November’s Bacta Parliamentary Reception.

Gabi Stergides said: “When we met in November, the Minister had only recently taken charge of the gambling and amusements portfolio following the resignation of Tracey Crouch, over the proposed delay in implementing the £2 FOBT stake that was subsequently rescinded.

“Last week we took the opportunity to provide a more detailed perspective of the amusement industry and what it contributes to national, regional and local economies, set out our plans for developing a road map of the changes we wished to see alongside appropriate player protection measures and to demonstrate the reasons why player tracking is not appropriate for our sector.

“Discussions surrounding social responsibility featured prominently and we explained the ways in which we are working with and advising the pub sector on age verification as well as expanding on the success of Bacta’s first Social Responsibility Exchange and how we want to extend its scope and influence moving forward. We also took the opportunity to express our views more generally about the importance of keeping the industry competitive in what is a fast moving world of digital entertainment, the role of the Gambling Commission as both regulator and facilitator and potential mergers which may take place among UK trade bodies and associations.”

“It was a very positive exchange and I look forward to the Bacta leadership team developing a progressive and open relationship with the Minister.”