Government must protect the vulnerable, but the vast majority who bet safely and happily should be able to do so without needless intrusion.
In Stoke, bet365 employs over 5000 people in a myriad of roles, many highly skilled and well paid. Jobs like these are the lifeblood of any community.
The best way to protect the small proportion who struggle is to guarantee a mature, well-regulated gaming sector.
BGC members have recently drawn up a code of conduct, which aims to protect children from gambling ads, among other steps.
This mentality should be extended to the betting and gaming sector, which is at risk of too much regulation.
For so many of my constituents, going to the bookies is part of their social life and part of having fun.
A YouGov poll found that 51 per cent of voters do not believe that politicians should set limits on how much they can bet.
It’s vital that governments in London and Edinburgh do nothing to make things more difficult than they already are.
Well intentioned measures can end up unfairly penalising the vast majority of the 30 million people in this country who enjoy a harmless bet.
Punters at William Hill reckon that the most likely person to be Prime Minister in ten years’ time will be our very own David Cameron (DC has been captioned as a Labour MP by the BBC today btw). The prospect of not having another leadership election for a decade won’t be good for ConservativeHome’s traffic! […]