Part of Gambling Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:30 pm on 11 November 2004.
Richard Caborn
Minister of State (Sport and Tourism), Department for Culture, Media & Sport
2:30,
11 November 2004
I must admit that I do not follow all the hon. Gentleman's arguments. I return to the point about registration and taxation. The answer to the question that I think that I was asked is no. Registration is there to assist integrity and support the gambling commission in excluding unfair bets. There have been many discussions with the industry—including the Association of British Bookmakers—on that. I am led to believe that all the bodies are positive and think that the proposals will work. If there are things that do not work and if some of the issues that hon. Members have raised do arise—probably not the worst-case scenarios—the gambling commission has the powers to deal with that. We have come to a judgment and that is reflected in the Bill.
Exchanges have been debated ad nauseam; they were a major part of the pre-legislative Committee's scrutiny. It did not come to a decision in any definitive way; it wanted to revisit the matter, because it was not as black and white as some people would have us believe. That was the situation, and the substance of the explanation I gave this morning and this afternoon. The Amendment would not take us any further forward, and I ask that it be withdrawn.
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