Government and Gambling Commission New Laws Still Unclear

Unless the new gambling laws to be issued by the Government and Gambling Commission in the UK are to be delayed, the gaming and gambling industry will just have to second-guess the details of the new laws.

This early, industry players are expecting a mess and confusion once the new laws are implemented as council officials can not start preparing policy statements without clear guidance from the Government and the Gambling Commission.

The detailed guidance on the new laws will be published in November, which leaves the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (Lacors) a very tight 8-week period (Christmas and New Year break included) to prepare for the implementation of the laws before they start processing applications on January 31, without any time left for training staff or establishing IT systems.

Lacors representatives are set to meet Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister, to ask for the guidance that would help in their preparation or to simply allow the implementation date deferred from September 2007 to April 2008.

Lacors has written to Caborn setting out its complaints, as over 30,000 casinos, racecourses, bookies and bingo halls are waiting for the guidance.

Lacors Chairman Geoffrey Theobald said, "Councils are in the dark and are unable to put in place coherent policies because guidance and regulations from the Government haven't been forthcoming. It also makes it difficult to provide local businesses and people with clear advice."