Stephanie Peacock
MP for Barnsley South · Labour · United Kingdom
“It is a pleasure to conclude this debate. I am grateful to Members for their contributions and for the broad consensus that households facing fuel poverty and energy debt should receive support quickly, fairly and effectively. At its heart, this draft statutory instrument makes three targeted changes.”
“Secondly, the amendments, laid by the then Department for Science, Innovation and Technology on 6 July, specify that Department under the existing fuel poverty objective, enabling the Government Department responsible for data policy to support work assisting people living in fuel poverty, including the national data library kickstarter p…”
“We have cut VAT on electricity bills, expanded the warm home discount to around 6 million households, and are delivering the warm homes plan and fuel poverty strategy to reduce bills, improve energy efficiency and help to lift up to 1 million households out of fuel poverty by 2030.”
“I know that the right hon. Gentleman was a little bit late in arriving, but I did say that the scheme is the responsibility of the relevant Department. These regulations provide the legal framework for the data sharing. I now turn to the third amendment, which concerns the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.”
“Member for North East Cambridgeshire asked me some questions about who is in scope and who will benefit from the scheme. Again, had he been listening to my contribution, he would have heard—I will repeat my comments—that the precise design of any scheme remains in development by the Government and Ofgem.”
“They provide the legal data-sharing basis that would allow an appropriately designed scheme to operate effectively. If such a scheme proceeds, it is estimated to reduce the administrative burdens involved in identifying eligible households and providing further support to families in need.”
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“For converted casinos that are not able to meet the size requirements to site 80 machines, a sliding scale will apply in line with their size. This will allow slightly smaller casinos to site between 25 and 75 machines in total. We are already making changes to allow real event or sports betting to take place in all converted casinos. The current rules prohibit these casinos from offering that, whereas venues licensed under the 2005 Act are able to. The prohibition no longer makes any sense, because a casino customer can place a bet on their mobile phone while in the venue, but not with the casino itself. The change will allow converted casinos not only to offer a new gambling product, but to invest in other parts of their venues, such as sports bars, which would be a natural companion to a betting offer.”
“While these venues offer a variety of ways to entertain their customers, including bars, restaurants and table games, the current rules mean that people are queueing for machines at peak times, which can mean that customers extend gambling sessions out of fear of losing their place at machines, and casinos miss out on vital revenue. These restrictions, combined with a variety of headwinds for businesses, most notably the pandemic, have seen 17 casinos close since 2020 and a loss of over 750 jobs. This package of measures will put the casino sector back on a sustainable footing. It will give converted casinos the option of increasing their gaming machine allowance from 20 to 80, if they are sufficiently large. That will align with the different licensing regimes, as small 2005 Act casinos are already allowed to offer 80 machines.”
“It had not envisaged the rise of online gambling and the unlimited availability of gambling at any time. Given the rise of smartphones, we believe that restrictions on product availability in casinos are now less important for protecting customers than factors such as the product design and quality of monitoring. Casinos are an important part of our late-night economy, provide thousands of jobs and contribute millions of pounds every year to the UK’s tourism economy, but they have been stifled by excessively strict regulations that mean the vast majority of our casinos can offer only 20 gaming machines. That makes no sense in venues that can be thousands of square metres in size and accommodate thousands of people.”
“The Government are focused on economic growth, and I believe that enabling a responsible gambling sector to grow is compatible with an even safer one. We acknowledge the difficulties that land-based gambling businesses, particularly casinos, have faced since the pandemic. We have already brought forward measures to improve consumer protections, including the introduction of stake limits for online slot games and establishing a statutory levy on gambling operators to fund research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harm. Therefore, following a consideration of the best available evidence, the time is right now to proceed with a series of reforms for the land-based casino sector. The gambling landscape has significantly changed since the legislative framework was updated under the Gambling Act 2005.”
“Together, these three statutory instruments will make a number of important changes to the legislative framework for land-based casinos. While only one of these instruments is being debated today, the other two will follow the negative procedure and were published in draft on 12 May, the same day on which the regulations that we are debating were laid. Given the linkages between these regulations, that was done to provide proper transparency about the range of changes that we are proposing, and to allow for proper scrutiny. If the regulations that have been laid using the affirmative procedure are approved by Parliament, it is our intention to lay the remaining two instruments using the negative procedure so that all three would then come into force on the same day, 22 July 2025. I now move on to our aims for these measures.”
“6 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Order and the Gambling Act 2005 (Premises Licences and Provisional Statements) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations. The Commencement No. 6 and Transitional Provisions Order extends existing gaming machine entitlements for converted casinos, meaning those not licensed under the Gambling Act 2005. The regulations that we are debating introduce protections for converted casinos as a result of the extended entitlements and are consistent with the protections provided to casinos established under the 2005 Act. The Premises Licences and Provisional Statements Regulations amend existing procedures so that a converted casino operator can apply to its licensing authority, usually its local authority, to vary its premises licence to enable it to exercise the extended entitlement.”
“I beg to move, That this Committee has considered the draft Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I am pleased to be speaking to these regulations, which were laid before the House, in draft, on 12 May 2025, and to be talking about this package of measures that will unlock additional investment up and down the country. I will set out the aims of this package, including the linked statutory instruments, how they will benefit the casino sector and what protections will be in place for consumers. I begin by drawing the Committee’s attention to other linked statutory instruments that have been published in draft in parallel to the regulations being debated today. The other instruments are the Gambling Act 2005 (Commencement No.”
“The Minister with responsibility for gambling has not ruled out the relevant changes to the 80:20 rule, but intends to look again at the matter later this year. I simply have to disagree with the hon. Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire that the regulations represent a race to the bottom; we simply do not think they do. We think they have been improved and brought into the modern age, given the rise of online gambling, and support our land-based casino sector. Casinos are highly regulated environments and there is a significant amount of player supervision alongside a number of protections on gaming machines themselves. Importantly, the regulations contain a number of protections that will ensure that customers continue to be offered a range of gambling and non-gambling opportunities. That will help reduce the risk of harm.”
“I thank the Opposition spokesmen for their contributions. It has been an important debate and I am grateful to Members for their attendance today. It is clear that the official Opposition share our commitment to allowing this historic sector to thrive and to ensuring that those who want to gamble can continue to do so safely, while the public is protected from the risk of gambling-related harm. I appreciate the shadow Minister’s support; as he rightly pointed out, this process began under his Government. I very much heard the hon. Gentleman’s comments about the Treasury. We continue to engage with the Treasury, and I encourage hon. Members to take part in the current consultation. He also touched on adult gaming centres, and I appreciate that a different approach has been taken to those.”