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Sports Betting

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. O'Hara. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) on securing this important debate. From the contributions that have been made, may I say that it has been a constructive debate on the issues that we face in relation to integrity? This is a timely debate, given the cases and issues that are out there. I want to return to the point that the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) made about the context of the debate and making sure that we put on the record—as has been done by all hon. Members—the fact that British betting is the safest in the world. We are proud of the way in which gambling operators and sports' governing bodies operate in the UK. We need to put the matter in context of what is happening and what has happened, but we should certainly not be complacent about the issues that we face. I shall go straight to the point that the hon. Gentleman made about the levy. The Government certainly do not support a sports levy—indeed, we want to see a fair return in the relationship between sports and betting. However, that should be achieved through a voluntary arrangement. Discussions are already taking place about the possibility of that being done. We certainly would not want to pursue another levy, given the issues that have arisen about levies. May I update hon. Members about the research, education and treatment issues, in relation to which we threatened to impose a levy if we could not get voluntary contributions? I am happy to say that we are well on track to securing the required funding, but some small issues remain in relation to the offering of contracts and ensuring that we have the money for three-year contracts. I am confident that we will receive those assurances from the betting industry. Again, I pay tribute to what has been done.