FOBT report parked until post-election
DCMS tells EGR Intel a June General Election would delay publication of review into stakes, prizes and advertising
The UK government will delay the publication of its review into FOBT stakes and gambling advertising should MPs rubberstamp a June General Election later today, EGR Intel can reveal.
Following previous guidance from Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, Tracey Crouch, the gambling industry had been expecting to learn in “late spring” of the conclusions drawn by the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Triennial Review into stakes and prizes.
However, a spokesperson for the DCMS this morning told EGR Intel that Crouch’s earlier guidance would be “superseded” by a General Election, and as a result “could not publish the report during purdah” – the name given to the timeframe prior to an election.
Purdah, which usually lasts for the duration of the campaign period, prevents government from making any controversial announcements or legislative changes which could be seen as helpful to the governing party’s election chances.
While the DCMS declined to offer any new timeframe – MPs are due to vote whether to hold an election on 8 June this afternoon – a number of sources close to the situation told EGR Intel an October publication date would be the most likely outcome.
Writing in a blog post, Regulus Partners’ Dan Waugh said the delay could be “good news” for retail operators, with any reduction in FOBT stakes now unlikely to be implemented until October 2018 at the earliest.
“If the announcement does slip into the autumn then it may mean that the implementation of any actions would be pushed back from April 2018 to October that year – or further if there is a lengthy consultation period: broadly, the bigger the changes, the longer the likely delay,” Waugh said.
“This all seems like good news for the betting shop operators who were recently advised by (the hitherto highly liberal and supportive) former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittingdale to prepare for “radical measures” on FOBTs.”
But while the delay may be positive for some, analyst Simon French of Cenkos said the later publication date would be “unhelpful” in terms of potential M&A activity.
“This [the delay] is likely to continue to act as a brake on industry consolidation – unhelpful in a slowing UK market with tough Euro 2016 comparatives to be lapped in June and July,” he said.