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Sports Betting

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) on introducing this timely and important debate. I also commiserate with him as a Norwich City fan. A week last Sunday, he will have been sitting on the edge of his settee. Barnsley were the other team in the frame, and when they went 1-0 down to Plymouth, I thought it was curtains for us. However, we have a certain fighting spirit, like this Labour Government, and we pulled the iron out of the fire at the end to win 2-1. That could be an analogy for next year's general election. I am speaking primarily in my capacity as joint chairman of the all-party racing and bloodstock industries group. There is no doubt that betting on all sports has grown exponentially with the development of the internet, which has been accompanied by increased risk to the integrity of sport. Betting is a serious issue for all sports and for Governments worldwide. The British Horseracing Authority has led the way in tackling the threat of corruption and has assisted many sports to deal with the challenges. It stands willing to help any sports that approach it and lends its expertise whenever it is called upon. As the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) said, in the past 12 months, there have been no corruption incidents to do with horse racing in this country, which is a feather in the industry's cap. Dame Elizabeth Neville, a former chief constable and a director of the Serious Fraud Office, led an independent review of British horse racing integrity operations in 2008 and concluded that the BHA was a model for the effective investigation of corruption in sport. Four key principles underpin the BHA's integrity operations: clear rules and regulations for all participants, accompanied by robust disciplinary processes and penalties; a partnership approach with the Gambling Commission and betting organisations, which includes information sharing; a high level of intelligence and investigative capability; and, finally, education across the sport, which is absolutely vital—my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North referred to that. Since 2002, the BHA has invested significantly in infrastructure and modern processes, including employing a new director of integrity services and licensing, and two full-time betting investigators, who enable seven-days-a-week monitoring of betting markets on course and fully informed analysis of betting. It has agreed a memorandum of understanding with betting organisations that allows the sharing of information and intelligence, and it has established a fully resourced and funded intelligence unit. The use of information and its conversion into evidence is crucial, and the system used to grade the information and its source is the same as that used by all UK police forces—many people involved in ensuring integrity in the racing industry are former police officers, as the Minister will know. Finally, the BHA has invested in sophisticated IT systems and a team of seven full-time investigators. One outstanding issue that remains to be resolved as far as the BHA is concerned is overseas betting operators. The Government recently announced a review of such operators. A growing number of companies locate their online operations outside British regulatory and taxation regimes, yet they can advertise freely to British punters. That means that they do not have to comply with the regulatory arrangements applied by the Gambling Commission or pay the horse racing levy that funds the integrity arrangements that I outlined. The BHA believes that the loophole needs to be closed urgently. Will the Minister say something about that? Another issue that has yet to be resolved satisfactorily is list positions in the on-course betting ring and the continuing dispute between the Federation of Racecourse Bookmakers and the Racecourse Association. Before the Gambling Act 2005 came into force, many on-course bookies paid high prices for their pitches in the belief that that investment would buy them their list position in perpetuity. I am sure that all Members who like to go to the race course—as I did on Saturday at Thirsk with one or two hon. Members, in particular those who sit on the Opposition Benches—would agree that the bookmakers' ring adds to the atmosphere at a race course. It makes the difference between racing in Ireland and Britain, and racing on the continent in countries such as France. A certain amount of progress looks to have been made. I do not know whether the Minister saw the article in this morning's Racing Post written by a good Doncaster Rovers fan, Howard Wright. It reads, "Shake-up in store for on-course bookies at Northern racecourses—Proposal for scheme to guarantee positions for 35 years". The article puts the current position in a nutshell:""Northern Racing is proposing a groundbreaking deal for on-course bookmakers operating at the group's nine racecourses, which will guarantee positions in the 'pick' list for 35 years.""Bookmakers will continue to pay five times the cost of admission to the particular enclosure in which they are betting until August 31, 2012, after which the daily fee will go up by 25 per cent. for the next five years.""After 2017, there will be five-yearly reviews and the cost will rise according to the retail prices index since the date of the last revision.""A daily administration fee of £20 will continue to be paid, subject to review, according to the contract proposal that is being sent to bookmakers today and will appear on Northern's website. ""Auctions and private sales of list positions in existing rings will take place quarterly, with 10 per cent. of the sale price going to the individual racecourse as commission…""There will be no arbitration system to settle disputes, which 'will be subject to the jurisdiction of the English courts'.""The scheme is backdated to 2007 and, if agreed, could act as a blueprint to solve the dispute over pitch tenure that has raged between the Federation of Racecourse Bookmakers and the Racecourse Association since before the Gambling Act came into force in September 2007.""The row has also frustrated attempts by the sports Minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, to modernise the operation of the betting ring. The FRB has stood firm behind the principle of bookmakers holding their list positions in perpetuity, which the RCA denies."" On the face of it, that looks to some extent like going down the right road. However, the FRB would like me to make a number of points about the issue, because it is not quite as clear and straightforward as Howard makes out in his article. The FRB is concerned about the working party set up by the Minister. He was quoted in the Racing Post on 18 March as saying that he would""give it one last crack"" by re-convening the working party and would consider using secondary legislation if agreement was not reached. I understand that that meeting has not yet taken place. Will he comment on that and tell us whether there will be one? The next point concerns the UK-wide solution for tenure. The tenure of list positions must be agreed UK-wide, as it was before the passing of the 2005 Act. Although commercial access fees may vary, it would not be fair for some bookies to keep their assets for longer than others. If a negotiated agreement cannot be reached UK-wide, surely legislation is the only option. The article mentioned the fact, which the FRB opposes, that there will be no dispute resolution mechanism. The FRB feels that agreement on tenure means nothing if access charges are not fair and reasonable, and a dispute resolution mechanism is essential to ensuring fairness for both sides if agreement is not reached. The FRB strongly advocates such a mechanism, but the RCA has strongly resisted it until now. In my opinion, a dispute resolution mechanism for forward negotiations must be seriously considered. There are few industries in which this country can truly be described as the world leader, but betting and gambling is one of them. That is primarily due to the high levels of integrity encouraged in all UK sports. I believe that the leading best practice model is the one employed by the BHA. I hope that all major sports in this country will seriously consider adopting similarly high levels of integrity to those that operate in the British racing industry.