UK: Tighter controls on remote gambling cleared by peers

The main provision of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Bill is to require all remote gambling operators to obtain a license from the Gambling Commission to enable them to transact with British customers and advertise in Britain.

Opening the debate at third reading on 18 March 2014, culture, media and sport spokesman Lord Gardiner of Kimble introduced an amendment allowing ministers to impose a levy on remote operators offering betting on horseracing.

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) is required to collect a statutory levy, known as the Horserace Betting Levy, from horseracing bookmakers and the Tote successor company which it then distributes for "the improvement of horseracing and breeds of horses and for the advancement of veterinary science and education", according to the government.

Lord Gardiner said extending the levy was "about collecting the horseracing betting levy in a fair and consistent way" and "levelling the playing field for bookmakers engaging with punters".

But Labour's Lord Lipsey objected to the levy as a whole as an example of the type of subsidy that "distorts markets and so interferes with the generally beneficial results of fair competition" and that it encourages "bigger prizes which lead to inflated prices for the best bloodstock".

Lib Dem Lord Clement-Jones was supportive of the government's plan, but crossbencher Baroness Howe of Idlicote was concerned that help for the industry had not been "balanced by consumer protection".

The government nonetheless secured peers' agreement to its amendment without a vote.

Later, crossbencher Lord Browne of Belmont attempted to delay the legislation until the outcome of recently announced reviews into the effects of gambling adverts, but the government did not accept his idea and peers did not force a vote.

Having passed its third reading, the bill will come into force after Royal Assent.