Arcades industry letter to SoS for Culture, Media and Sport

Dear Secretary of State,

Letter of congratulations and invitation to meet to discuss Gambling Review

I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment as Secretary of State for the new Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

We enjoyed a positive working relationship with your predecessor, Michelle Donelan MP, and her colleague the former Gambling Minister Paul Scully MP. We hope to enjoy a similarly constructive relationship with your new team, and look forward to working with you to deliver the reform and modernisation that the gambling sector greatly needs.

By way of introduction, bacta represents the amusement machine industry and supply chain. The sector employs 40,000 people with an overall contribution of £2bn to the national economy. Tax receipts represent a conservable contribution of the sector, generating £270m in Machine Game Duty and Machine VAT. Tourism and heritage are also two key industries we operate in – as you can imagine, many of our members are found in the form of Family Entertainment Centres (FECs) at the seaside and Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) on the high street. These sites provide a vital source of economic activity for our seaside towns and high streets across the country, bringing economic prosperity to many of those areas aligned with the Government’s levelling up agenda.

As you know, the Gambling Review is one of the major items taken forward by successive administrations and under a number of Secretaries of State and Gambling Ministers. Though this delay has been a frustration felt by many in the industry, it is vital that reform remains on the agenda to ensure that the regulatory framework for the gambling is one which reflects the modern and rapidly changing nature of the industry, while continuing to ensure the highest level of player protections. The result must be a system which delivers the most socially responsible products, provides the Gambling Commission with the powers it needs, and is fit for purpose in the 21st Century.

We are already in regular contact with officials within the department, including colleague Sarah Fox, who we spoke to at a meeting alongside Minister Scully a few weeks ago. We were encouraged by the Minister’s comments during this meeting, with the noises suggesting that the publication of the Review was finally imminent.

Conscious that the latest reshuffle may result in the White Paper being pushed back again, we would be incredibly grateful to meet with you to discuss how we can work together to ensure the Review is published in a timely manner and in a way which brings the land-based sector along with it.

I look forward to working with you in your new role and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the above.

Yours sincerely,
John White
Chief Executive
Bacta