BRITAIN: Chancellor Gordon Brown stands to be the big winner from the Blair government's proposals to sweep aside restrictions and permit an era of Las Vegas-style gambling in Britain's new "mega casinos".
As Culture Secretary Ms Tessa Jowell considered amendments to her proposed Bill to protect children from exposure to gambling in family entertainment centres, the Centre for Economics and Business Research suggested yesterday that the envisaged gambling boom could more than double the treasury's tax revenue.
Fears about increased problem gambling and strong opposition from religious groups including the Salvation Army have forced ministers onto the defensive over the biggest shake-up in Britain's gaming and betting laws in some forty years.
"This is about new protections, not new casinos," Ms Jowell declared when unveiling her proposals on Tuesday, stressing the government's commitment to a new regulatory framework rather than the hoped-for boost for jobs, tourism and the tax-take. But with the government's own figures predicting increased spending on gambling to the tune of £4 billion (€5.7 billion) over the next five years, yesterday's prediction of more-than-doubled tax revenues brought with it suggestions that this would help the Chancellor plug the hole in government spending plans which independent economists think will otherwise necessitate tax rises after the general election.
In the year to March gambling contributed £1.3 billion in duties to the treasury. Currently employing an estimated 100,000 people, the government believes an extra investment of £5 billion will create a further 85,000 permanent jobs in the industry.
American casino companies have already lodged applications in cities and towns across Britain in anticipation of a gambling revolution which will allow immediate access to casinos allowed to remain open for 24 hours and no longer required to operate a 24 hour joining or membership period.
It is envisaged that the largest casinos will be allowed to offer unlimited jackpots, with betting allowed on Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Alongside these radical changes there will be a new criminal offence of inviting, permitting or causing a child to gamble, while some 6,000 slot machines are to be removed from unlicensed premises.