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Gambling Act 2005 (Exclusion of Children from Track Areas) Order 2007

My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have spoken and asked questions. I am not quite so grateful to the noble Lord, Lord James, because I cannot answer all his questions, although I raised the question of point-to-point racing myself. I had not got around to duck racing. I shall seek confirmation before I give the noble Lord a categorical reply. I am obviously grateful that noble Lords welcome the orders, because they give effect to the Gambling Act. As the noble Lord, Lord Lee, was kind enough to indicate, and I emphasise, we might have other orders before us. I fear, both for the noble Lord’s sake and my own, that that is so and that we have further work to do before the Act is fully operative. I assure him that we now have an updated version of the implementation plan in the Library. The judicial review does not hold up our progress. We are confident of our case and expect to win, but recognise that British casinos have the right to make this application. We will respond to it in due course, confident that the judgment will be in favour of our position. It does not currently inhibit work on the Act as such. The element of inhibition in this process is obvious enough: a vote of this House, not the other place. This House will now know, which it did not when it expressed its opinion on that fateful day,the judgment of the elected House, which became known later. Of course the Government regret the loss of that vote; it occasioned a great deal of disappointment. That is at least paralleled, if not exceeded, by that of those local authorities that sought the new casinos as a significant aid to regeneration, with thousands of new jobs in deprived communities. That is why we are concerned to reach a judgment on the next step, in complex and difficult circumstances. The House will recognise that we are bound by the 2005 Act. If the House is eager that the Government reach a judgment soon, I say that if it were easy to make, it would already have been formed. There are many issues to consider, but we are all too well aware of our obligation, particularly to the local authorities that made the applications, to reach a judgment as rapidly as we can on how to proceed. The noble Lord, Lord Howard, raised a question which also perplexed me. The word ““tracks”” throws us all. ““Tracks”” is a generic term for sporting venues, and we are extending to sporting venues that which already obtains for horse and dog-racing tracks. The noble Lord also interested me when he said that he could not think what these venues might be. I go to football matches, and I have never seen a betting stall or booth, but they exist in many grounds. PerhapsI go to the wrong grounds, or perhaps I am congenitally blind to those facilities, but they are there. It will be recognised that, because of concern about the relationship between gambling and individual cricket events—individual scores by batsmen or prowess by bowlers can be bet upon—the cricket authorities have been concerned that there should be proper regulation. That is proof that betting goes on at cricket grounds. The noble Lord, Lord James, mentioned a whole swathe of other events. Separate provisions will apply to point-to-point racing. Temporary use notices will be applied to it because, interestingly, its venues do not have the same permanence as formal racecourses. The noble Lord, Lord Howard, was kind enough to warn me that he might ask his other question. It had not crossed my mind that the parliamentary bridge club might relocate its activities to the local casino, but I agree that people might go to the recreational areas of a casino and engage in communal pursuits in which there might be some wagering. The regulations draw a very clear, sharp and impermeable line between the areas where gambling takes place and the recreational areas because the recreational areas can offer accessto children. It is a rigid division therefore the parliamentary bridge club, or any other group, can go and play bridge in those recreational areas but will not be allowed to wager. The noble Lord, Lord Howard, asked how that will be prevented. The parliamentary bridge society is the most law-abiding body that I can think of, so the issue would not arise, but in the case of any other group that sought to play cards and gamble, the point is that licences are offered to premises on the basis that there is adequate supervision of a very important dividing line. I assure the noble Lord that any attempt in those areas to engage in games which involve monetary rewards is forbidden. We would expect those areas to be monitored by the people operating the premises. If they did not do so, their licence would be in jeopardy. On Question, Motion agreed to.