Clause 143 - Form of licence
Gambling Bill
3:00 pm
Mr Don Foster (Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Culture, Media & Sport; Bath, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to the Minister for amplifying some of the points he raised during our consideration of clause 83. May I tell him gently that he has said in two different ways that he firmly believes that the third European directive will be more challenging than the second? He also said that the third directive will be likely to reinforce and extend the controls in the second. Regulation 8(1) of the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 and article 9 of the draft third EU directive make it clear that the issue of identity does not come in only when there is an exchange of funds in excess of è1,000. Regulation 8(1) says:
''A person who operates a casino by way of a business in the United Kingdom must obtain satisfactory evidence of identity of any person before allowing that person to use the casino's gaming facilities.''
That means before any use—regardless of whether there is an exchange in excess of è1,000.
Article 9 states:
''Member states shall require that all casino customers shall be identified''.
The identity must be verified later when there is a transfer of è1,000.
I suggest that the Minister's statement that the situation will occur only when money changes hands, is unlikely to be reflected in the third European directive. He nevertheless makes the fair point that it would be better to wait for that directive in order to ensure that it will apply to all casinos in the United Kingdom, and that it is not necessary to require such provision in the Bill. There will be a further opportunity when we have more information about the development of the third directive.