Debate contribution: The Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Debate contribution by Mr Philip McGuigan on 28 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Philip McGuigan

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

28 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

The Gaming (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order (Northern Ireland) 2025

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4763849

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I find it difficult to disagree with a lot of what Mr O'Toole said. He talked about people waking up during the night and gambling on their phone and about the protections in legislation that are needed to prevent them from doing so. Unfortunately, many studies have shown that, for many, gaming machines are the gateway to much more serious types of gambling harm, so it is important that we get the legislation right. I understand that the amending order is an attempt to align regulations on gaming machine stake and prize limits with those in Britain. FOBTs used to be classified as B2 gaming machines in Britain. Following the maximum stake reduction in 2019 from £100 to £2, they were reclassified as B3 gaming machines. There is, unfortunately, lots of evidence of the widespread unlawful operation of electronic gaming machines, including fixed-odds betting terminals, in the North. There have been two decades of illegal use of electronic gaming machines that offer stakes and prizes, while the number of gaming machines has well exceeded what is allowed under the 1985 Order. A PSNI Assistant Chief Constable, in a letter sent to me on 31 March 2022, acknowledged:

"I note your comment that many bookmaking offices here operate more than two gaming machines, and we understand that all FOBT gaming machines operated by them have stakes and prizes well in excess of what is permitted."

We therefore have evidence that the previous legislation was being abused by some who operate gaming machines. For Members' information, the maximum stake and prize limits for electronic gaming machines legally operated on licensed premises in the North are currently significantly lower than those in Britain. The maximum stake here, as the Minister outlined, is 30p. The prize limit is set at £25, with a maximum of two gaming machines per premises permitted. Under the order, those stake and prize limits for gaming machines operated in bookies will tomorrow, if the motion is agreed, increase to £2 and £500 respectively. The number of gaming machines permitted, however, will remain at two. The order is a tacit acknowledgement by the Department that some members of the NI Turf Guardians' Association (NITGA), which represents bookmakers, are, unfortunately, operating outside our gambling laws. That is backed up by evidence in an investigation report by FACT, a leading due diligence provider, that was commissioned by law firm Lewis Silkin. Dated 1 August 2024, the report revealed that licensed bookmaker premises in Newry, Ballymena, Belfast and elsewhere were operating up to four electronic gaming machines that offered a maximum stake of £2 and a maximum prize of £500, which is well above what was permitted. The advice of departmental officials to the Committee for Communities was that the order will not increase the current levels of gambling harm, and that may be correct. It is clear, however, that certain historical and current levels of gambling harm would have been lower had the 1985 Order been enforced. Recent research from the University of Glasgow has shown that there was a strong association between the total consumption of gambling products and the level of harm in our population. The evidence suggests that continuous forms of gambling, with high degrees of concentration of consumption, create the greatest risk of gambling harm. Research that GambleAware commissioned analysed the harms associated with different gambling products. It found gaming machines to be the most harmful group of products, with 76% of people who used only gaming machines experiencing gambling-related harm. That is supported by the most recent gambling survey, which found that people who play casino games on a machine or a terminal were five and a half times more likely to experience gambling harm than the average gambler. The Department's consultation on regulating this form of gambling was carried out between December 2019 and February 2020. A more up-to-date consultation might have been more useful. Information disclosed on electronic gaming content on such machines may have changed since then, although it may not have. The Westminster all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on gambling reform recently conducted an investigation that highlighted the fact that stakes in excess of £2 per spin are being facilitated by game-within-game and premium-play features on electronic gaming machines that are classified as B3 machines by Britain's Gambling Commission. Whilst we may be moving towards having similar legislation, we need to keep our eye on enforcement. That is vital. The APPG's letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) explained that those aspects were a breach of the Gambling Act 2005 in Britain. We need to ensure that, when we set legislation, we look carefully at all the arguments and not just those that are being made by, and in favour of, the gambling industry. We need to equate the public harm to, or even elevate it above, the profit, and I will touch on that in greater detail during this afternoon's debate. If we reward the unlawful activities of licensed bookmakers in the North, how will we effectively enforce new laws that cover the much more challenging environment of online gambling, which is currently unregulated in our jurisdiction, and protect our population from gambling harm? Enforcement and regulation are key to that, Minister. You touched on the code of practice: you will be aware that, whilst I am speaking as an individual, the all-party group on reducing harm related to gambling has submitted a response to the consultation on the code of practice that says similar things: regulation and enforcement must be key to ensuring the safety of our population. I have a few questions for the Minister on today's proposal. I want the Minister to provide assurance on who will be responsible for enforcing the new regulations. What role will the PSNI have to play? Will the PSNI just be reactive and act only when it receives a complaint from a member of the public, or will the Department or other statutory agencies be proactive in ensuring that the regulations and the legislation are being followed? The new regulations could increase the risk of harm that is caused by gambling. We need to know who will minimise that risk by safeguarding people and ensuring that some bookmakers do not continue to break the law.

1,044 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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