Member Update

24th January 2022 – Member Update

 

Dear Member,

UPDATE

With the gradual but different easing of Covid-19 restrictions in England, Scotland and Wales, I thought members might appreciate a summary of the current position and I attach (below) a short note setting this out (which for good measure also includes Northern Ireland).

Current-covid-restrictions-in-UK.pdf (461 downloads )

In other news we have hit the ground running when it comes to lobbying on the Gambling Review with meetings with DCMS, the CEO of the Gambling Commission and the Chair of the Peers Group for Gambling Reform all happening in the first couple of weeks back from the Christmas break. Indications are that we will not now see the White Paper until April at the earliest.

Elsewhere Westminster City Council is up to its old tricks and has alongside its 330 page statement of gambling principles, (which contain some objectionable, and in our view ultra vires, policies) it has now written to AGC operators telling them to close between the hours of midnight and 9.00 a.m on the basis of an old bylaw that was used to regulate the travelling fair in Leicester Square in the centre of London. We have pulled together a group to fight this and if you are affected at all please do get in touch if I haven’t already spoken to you.

The bactaPortal version 2, which really ups the quality of the user experience, is due to be released shortly. Please keep your eyes open for the announcement as I would appreciate members’ feedback.

Tuesday sees the Technical Standards Review committee get back to work updating the industry’s technical standards. We are also meeting with the Gambling Commission next week to discuss the safer gambling product design code.

Kind regards

John

John White
Chief Executive