SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
New UK Prime Minister Theresa May has appointed Karen Bradley as the new Secretary of Culture, Media & Sport replacing John Whittingdale who will no longer hold a Conservative Party cabinet position.
Bradley, the former Home Office minister has been described as a ‘May Loyalist’, and will now lead the Department for Culture Media & Sports (DCMS) ensuring UK media and cultural standards, promotions, regulatory and social practices.
As its a departmental remit, the DCMS monitors the implementation of UK gambling laws as regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). With regards to her position on the UK gambling industry, Bradley is as yet an unknown quantity. In contrast Whittingdale was well known by the gambling industry, having been on the Select Committee that scrutinised the 2005 Gambling Act.
Bradley will now direct junior DCMS ministers, including the minister for gambling, whose direct remit includes the monitoring of the UK gambling and national lottery sectors, and is currently Tracey Crouch.
Media news sources have detailed that Bradley’s key secretarial focuses will be on improving the government’s relationship with the BBC and whether to privatise public broadcaster Channel 4.
Following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, Theresa May’s reshuffle of the Conservative cabinet with a focus on ‘Britain’s Brexit’, all ministerial departments are expected to have close ties with the newly created Brexit Department led by David Davis.
At present, UK gambling stakeholders are seeking clarity from the Tory government with regards to their operations, as over 30 betting firms are registered in the overseas territory of Gibraltar which had its European business and competition provisions secured by EU laws.
