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A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.
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The start of 2026 sees the script of UK gambling appear stuck on the same page. Last Friday, Parliament once again debated the future of UK gambling, with ministers lambasting the sector's presence on the high street and across media channels. Calls continue for the Labour government to intervene and complete the long-running gambling review, yet no minister or political party seems ready to deliver a resolution to what is fast becoming an endless British drama. Welcome to iGaming Daily, I'm Fernando Nod, Media Manager for SBC and your host for today, where I'm joined once again by the great Ted Memur, Editor-at-Large. Ted, how are you today? Very well, Fernando. Glad you're catching up on your UK shenanigans. Yeah, yeah. It's a rivet theme. I was looking forward. I was really looking forward to tackle UK politics and all that stuff. And we couldn't do it without the great... Joe Streeter, editor for iGaming Expert. Joe, how are you today? I'm good. Thank you, Fernando. Yeah, good. The weather's cold, but UK politics heating up, of course. Yeah, let's not talk about heating because my boiler is not working. But we were talking that before this episode, which is brought to you by OptiMove, the creator of positionless marketing and number one player engagement solution for iGaming and sports betting operators. Are you heading to ice? Make sure to stop by OptiMove stand in hall four. So let's... crack on, let's tackle what's going on in the UK, um which seems to be stuck in its proceedings. Can you guys outline what has happened at the start of the year? Look, I think it's not necessarily that UK gambling is stuck in its proceedings. mean, as last year, it was a year of kind of, tax and more kind of compliance kind of enforcements coming in. The thing is that UK gambling has resolved the matter of advertising and of this ongoing debate of where it stands on kind of local rights and local autonomy related to betting shops. Now at the start of the year, there has been letters sent to the prime minister regarding the subject matter, a report on gambling exposure within the UK and highlighting kind of changing sentiments. And on Friday, We saw the beginning of kind of parliamentary debates on the matter and actually just observing the debate, it seems that there's kind of been no movement. Yes, the MPs are against more betting, the betting shops exposure on the high streets, but they're not presenting kind of any resolution as to where this debate or where this matter should go. Everything kind of seems stuck in the mud at the moment. Yeah, I think as Ted mentioned, this is a new debate. to one that happened last year around budgets and the one that dominated iGame in daily airwaves last year around the budgets and taxations. But this is not a new debate entirely. This is one that has kind of rumbled on in the background for quite a while around the high street. But it feels like it could come to a head this year, especially as we have such important elections, local elections uh in May, which they are really pivotal and they do relate to the council as well. are council elections. Yeah, this subject may well take center stage in the run up to those elections. speaking about the future, people listened to this podcast, expecting us to rub on the crystal ball and drop some some forecasts for the future. Did you find anything in the debate that could reveal anything at all about the new future or the future direction of UK gambling policy? In substance, no. Tone wise, maybe look. I think this discussion again, it is one of these, it's very British in the sense that it keeps on being full kind of through headlines and through kind of the baited, but like, yes, we want to be tough, but fair on gambling. But what does that mean? And I think that there is kind of a fatty kind of already in January setting in of where this debate, where this matter is going to head to. It can't just be. you know, these endless letters sent to the bait, these endless kind of publications on media saying there's too many betting shops on the high street. And then the gandles response is always that, look, in terms of that exposure, that is set by the local councils. They are the ones that are setting the rates. But what is the resolution to that? And they are willing to work with the government to, you know, lessen their coverage or lessen the kind of existence there. But no one seems to kind of want to kind of cooperate on this matter. Yeah, I think, you know, when we speak about that lesson in of the coverage is it's important to note that um I think during during the debate or it was a debate last week, um the it was stated that the the number of betting shops and gambling venues, which is also kind of adult gaming centers, which is just venues for slots, basically were increasing. But I think UK GC figures show that it was stated they're increasing. But I think uh UK GC figures show that they're actually decreasing. uh So yeah, that's interesting. Also, I do agree with Ted that there's a lack of nuance around this debate. Just the very nature that adult gaming centers and high street slots venues kind of get umbrellaed in with bookmakers and betting shops as gambling venues. That feels wrong to me. They're both very different venues. They both kind of serve different purposes and they host different activities. think a nuance is required to kind of... subject to both, differentiate between the two because they are very different. I think it's going to be quite a... it's going to rally on this one. I do think we will reach some sort of conclusion and I don't think the retail betting sector will avoid the regulatory hammer and will avoid increased regulations. But what that means for the UK high street, I don't know. around this whole debate or this whole topic, there is one name that's been floating around. And that is Dawn Butler. Who is Dawn Butler and uh what is her campaign seeking to change in UK gambling? yeah, so Dawn Butler is the, she's the MP for Brent and she is a formidable campaigner. She's a strong lobbyist um and she's basically leading the charge, it's not just her. She has some strong backing. I think Manchester mayor Andy Burnham also has kind of put his weight behind this campaign. There are a lot of MPs, a lot of back bench MPs that are supporting this. So yeah, it's, it's, she's, she's leading the charge. Um, and she's a strong campaigner, but there are lots of, uh, that she's, there's a United force behind this for sure. think you're kind of on this question. You've got to kind of present the tone and the context of the campaign. Uh, she having even the way it's described or titled, she needs a campaign called. take back control of our high streets. And in there, it's got kind of the vocab there of like, she wants to end predatory gambling on the UK high street. It's as Joe said in the last one, you know, this shows that there's something about it kind of does lack nuance there. It describes kind of every, you know, buddy shops and arcades, there's gambling venues and I think overall, that looking at the discussion there, it's that there was no kind of like redress there from UK gambling. It really had no support on that kind of parliamentary debate as followed her speech. You had just a kind of cabal of MPs just dressing down the gambling industry. Again, not much movement there. That just doesn't improve anything. And it just doesn't bring kind of any platforms to the debate. Yeah. There's no plan either. think the high street kind of avoided, obviously it didn't in full, but it avoided much of the kind of the hammer of tax increases during the last budget. Most high street betting operators don't operate in isolation. They will still feel the wrath of the tax increases because of the kind of trickle down effect. But I think part of that is because the British high street in general is struggling. You take away one of its biggest kind of Operators, of the, you know, partly the lifeblood of it and you don't replace it, well, you're going to just, you're going to really take the heart out of the high street. So, and the high street is just going to be empty. So I think um if there is action on betting shops, then there needs to be a replacement and there needs to be an injection of life into the high street. I think that's partly why the government didn't come down on um retail betting operators. and the retail betting sector during the budget last year. And do you guys think that licensing rules and local rights are shaping up to be the next flash point for the industry? I think the local councils, they always fight for discretionary powers, especially over the business rates of their councils. however they have to set them, and I think this is the juncture of the debate. How are they being set? and why kind of betting shops are taking, you know, are seen to be taking over these premises. In terms of the other thing that I think doesn't get spoken about is that what are you going to replace the high street betting shops with, especially kind of in the poorer areas or the poorer boroughs of the UK? This is as much an economic issue as it is a social one. Okay. There's sure a lot to discuss on UK gambling and how policies may be restructured uh from uh MPs proposals and all that stuff so we're going to take a very quick break and we will continue discussing this right after we take a sip of water or a quick uh bathroom break but we'll be right back with more iGaming Daily. And we're back with more iGaming Daily to continue debating uh UK gambling and at the beginning of the episode we were just uh joking about me getting involved with a discussion. about uh UK politics, but that's where reality has brought us to, IYAMN Daily discussing UK politics. like I said, we were joking about it because I'm not that familiar with UK politics, but how is the sector actually reacting to being back in the political spotlight in the UK? Yeah, well, I think it would have been somewhat unexpected for the sector, to be honest. think, you know, there's a little bit of fatigue. As an industry, kind of went 15 rounds with the government last year and then lost the unanimous points decision coming away with such tax increases. ah And I don't think anybody really expected to commence this year and get straight back on the front foot. But yeah, here we are. ah The industry hasn't, there's not been such a strong response from the industry ah at the start of the year, but there has been a little bit of a response from kind of the right of UK politics. And I'm sure we'll go into that. But yeah, the industry's main defense seems to be coming from the right of UK politics at the moment. there any notable voices actually defending the industry amid the row over local licensing powers? Joe, I'll leave this to you. He's your friend. there was em on the, there's a Times radio podcast, I think, that runs alongside PMQ's which is an interesting principle in itself to have a politician on there. But reform leader Nigel Farage had some strong quotes about the high street. He again, and I, you know, I highlight the differences between bookmakers and adult gaming centers as they're called. He was to the defense of bookmakers. Yeah, there's, very little defense at the moment out there for adult adult gaming centers. I'm sure that will come in. But yeah, he, he We issued a strong defense to the em two bookmakers and yeah, let's see. think the UK could look very different. The political landscape of the UK could look very different come May the 8th, I think when after the local elections, yeah, we could be looking at a whole different landscape. So let's see where we are then and go from there. But as to how powerful that voice is, but right now it feels like one that carries a lot of weight. did find Farah Arshieh. I wouldn't call it intervention, but kind of take on the matter interesting because I think he kind of, look, I'm no fan of his, but I think he kind of frames it right as in this can't just be an issue that just implicates kind of betting and gaming. And it's much more about the UK economy itself, why aren't businesses surviving? And then what happens if you take away kind of these businesses and hospitality and leisure and entertainment, such as betting, betting shops. We have one, I think one in five pubs is closing down every week in the UK. And there is a stagnation across kind of local economies and what kind of replaces these businesses. And I think Farage politically knows to kind of jump on that. And he knows how to spin this point of conflict that involves the UK gambling. Yeah. They were actually calls from the, the Bettening and Gaming Council as well to kind of mirror, you go through this, like around business rates. um This is one thing they said, yeah, around business rates. um was a U-turn on rates for pubs. um And yeah, they've kind of underlined that British betting shops are facing similar strains. Whether they will get the, there was a lot of momentum around the business rates being cut for the U-turn on pubs. I don't think betting shops will get that same momentum. I don't think they will get uh looked at in the same way that pubs were. It's much tougher narrative, but yeah, that narrative is there and it is being put forward. And now let's go on to do some more fortune telling and discuss where is this conflict heading? Do you think there will be another consultation, a statutory review, something else? I don't want to predict anything, but the way the UK works, especially in terms of governing matters, I reckon it would be another, you know, targeted consultation. However, along that last look, but I think again, there's such a kind of inertia to deal with this. It should be a lot simpler. One thing that I think the Labour government has in its view or a concern that definitely jumps the page is that if it pulls a trigger on this, right, and it gets rid of the betting shops and the arcades. There's the aftermaths, the kind of job losses. And if the BGC are right and the industry consultants are right, that this could affect up to 10,000 people. That's a lot of explaining for a government to carry on. I think labor talk big on kind of social rights and kind of socially constructing gambling, right? But I don't think that it's aware or it wants to kind of take on fully the consequences. Yeah. I think ah one of the industry, you know, when we talk about those job losses and things like that, I think one of the issues that the industry has is we kind of did hear these warnings around FOBTs and around fixed odds betting terminals. ah So maybe the industry's voice and the industry's warnings carry a little bit less weight now because some of those warnings didn't come to fruition off the back of the FOBT ban uh all those years ago. But I do think, um you know, as we head towards May, I do think this will be a narrative. that continues to penetrate UK news headlines and I do think this will be a story that continues for the first half of this year. How likely is it that during that period of time or even further down the road Prime Minister Keir Starmer will intervene on local rights or advertising policy? Not a chance at all. Because we're not like that as a nation. mean, look, if you look at other states like The U.S. for example, they have executive powers. RPM is much more limited and he has to jump through the appropriate processes to get to that decision, i.e. a statutory review, a consultation. And also he has to run this through the departments that govern gambling, DCMS primarily, and see what the likes of Lisa Nandy and Baroness Tycross come back with. It's a much more difficult regime in which to enact changes for. What we never known about Keir Starmer is what his feelings are towards the gaming and how he would deal with kind of subsequent changes within the industry. you think fatigue has already set in over UK gambling's regulatory future? Yeah, absolutely no doubt. think off the back of last year, was such a volatile year in terms of discussions. I think the industry may have anticipated a little bit of respite at the start of this year, but yeah, so absolutely. think there's fatigue, but I think It would be a mistake to not to shrug that off and to put forward the positive case for the industry and to put forward the good things that High Street Betting does um as we kind of, as this debate only kind of um elevates moving on into the year. As a member of UKAM, in my journalistic capacity, Christ, there is a fatigue. In other markets, they get to talk about coup d'etat in Venezuela, integrity fallouts in prediction markets, much sexier stuff, much more exciting. We're just always stuck on the same page in the UK and my God is the training. But if you want to continue reading on that same page over and over again, you might as well subscribe to SBC News newsletter as well as every other. newsletter in the SBC media network because you will be able to keep up to date with this page this unique page that UK gambling regulation has apparently um but you will be able to read all the updates about it on SBC news, iGamingExpert and all other media outlet in the SBC media network but that has been all for today's episode of iGaming Daily we will continue to monitor UK gambling very closely for sure. Thank you very much Joe, Ted for such a thorough analysis on UK gambling. I feel like I'm more of an expert than I was 20 minutes ago about uh UK politics, UK gambling and UK regulation in general. Thank you very much and A.M. MacDonald as well for producing this episode. I'm Fernando Nott and to our listeners out there, we'll see you in the next one. Goodbye.