BGC Asks UK Government To Ignore Recent PGR Report
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The UK is batting a growing rise in problem gambling numbers and the UK government currently has a special taskforce reviewing the archaic 2005 Gaming Act to determine what changes need to be made and what new stipulations have to be put in place to better protect UK players from gambling harm.
PGR Releases Controversial Report
NERA Economic Consulting was commissioned to carry out a review of the gambling market and the findings were published in a recent Peers for Gambling Reform (PGR) report. The report has made five important recommendations based on their findings.
Some of the recommendations include a ban on video games that incorporate lootboxes, putting an end to gambling firms sponsoring sports teams, carrying out more stringent affordability checks, inserting a max bet for high risk casino games and making it compulsory for licensed gaming operators to contributed a fixed amount each year to fund gambling research and treatment.
The PGR report claimed that if the UK government would implement these 5 suggestions, it would cost the gambling industry between £700 million to £1 billion per year but this money would be recovered from other sectors and not hurt the economy. The PGR report also said by redirecting this spending, it would end up creating 30,000 new jobs and boost employee earnings up by £400 million.
BGC Asks Gov. To Ignore Report
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has criticized the PGR report openly and asked the UK government to ignore the report as it was based on fantasy figures and was fit to be fed to the birds.
Michael Dugher, CEO for the BGC said the findings were economically daft as further restrictions on the gambling market would not boost revenues in other sectors and it would also cripple the gambling industry who is trying to recover after being hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdown.
Dugher made it clear that the BGC was committed to working with the UK government to protect players from gambling harm and make things safer for them. However, the BGC also wanted to make it clear that it could not endorse a report that was not based on fact. The BGC hit back at the PGR report by citing the Ernst & Young report which was released in early 2021.
The E&Y report showed the contributions that the betting and gaming sector was making to the UK. The report showed that the gaming and betting market created close to 120,000 jobs and contributed over £7.5 billion in 2019 in gross added value. We will have to wait a few more weeks to see if the UK government will act on the PGR report.