This PowerPoint presentation aims to make use of extracts from The Times newspaper, political cartoo

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This PowerPoint presentation aims to make use of
extracts from The Times newspaper, political
cartoons, and images from Pathé Newsreels, to
explore the question of State regulation of
Gaming in modern Britain. Roy Wolfe
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Casinos are still for most people more readily
associated with Monte Carlo and Baden Baden than
the more homely surroundings of Reading or
Salford. They are for Britain a comparatively
recent innovation. Lawful casino gambling was
made possible for the first time by the Betting
and Gaming Act 1960. Within a few years casinos
were flourishing like weeds in many parts of the
country. Royal Commission on Gambling
(Rothschild Report) Cmnd.7200 July 1978
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• TIMELINE
• 1845 - Gaming Act
• 1854 Gaming Houses Act
• 1906 Street Betting Act
• 1951 Royal Commission on Betting, Gaming
  Lotteries
• 1960 Betting Gaming Act
• 1968 - Gaming Act -gt Gaming Board of Great
  Britain
• 1978 Royal Commission on Gambling (Rothschild)
• 2001 Gambling Review Report (Budd)

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Pathé newsreel portrayed images of social
exclusivity and the exotic foreignness of casino
gaming available to both men women with the
financial means. (1936)
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Under the Gaming Act 1845, games of chance
(rather than mere skill) such as roulette,
bacarrat and even poker, were held by the courts
to be illegal, and criminal charges were brought
against those organising such activities. Charges
were brought under the Gaming Houses Act, 1854,
which made it an offence to keep a house for
unlawful gaming. Reports commented on gender
and class.
10 June 1919
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Under the Gaming Act 1845, games of chance
(rather than mere skill) such as roulette,
bacarrat and even poker, were held by the courts
to be illegal, and criminal charges were brought
against those organising such activities. Charges
were brought under the Gaming Houses Act, 1854,
which made it an offence to keep a house for
unlawful gaming. Reports commented on gender
and class.
10 February 1939
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The Times leader welcomes the recommendations of
the Royal Commission to reform the law on betting
and gaming, but not to permit casinos. 10 April
1951
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"The gambling problem must be viewed as a phase
of the entire crime picture. Organised gambling
is a vicious evil, it corrupts our youth and
blights the lives of our adults, becomes a
springboard of other crimes of embezzlement,
robbery and even murder. But, like any other type
of crime it can be controlled.
If the laws against gambling were ultimately on
the state and local statute books and were
earnestly and vigorously enforced, organised
gambling could be eliminated in forty eight hours
from any community in this land. No criminal, the
gambler and his allies included, can long stand
up against a determined, intelligent and informed
public opinion.
Senate crime investigation committee, Washington
DC, USA J. Edgar Hoover (Chief of FBI), August
1951 (Pathé Newsreel)
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The Times leader broadly welcomed the provisions
of the Bill on Betting and Gaming after
considerable delay. Casino gaming was not
envisaged, and was thought likely to lead to . .
. extravagance, and financial ruin . .
. Gambling is always potentially, and
sometimes actually, evil and a social menace. 3
November 1959
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The law was changed by the Betting and Gaming Act
1960, which unintentionally opened the floodgates
to organised gaming. Commercial organisations
soon took advantage of uncertainty in the law,
and organised crime infiltrated the industry.
19 November 1966
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In 1963, Pathé newsreel captured French style
gaming in Londons River Club, mentioning a
variation in the way roulette is played in order
to appear to comply with the Gaming Laws.
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Pathé newsreel showing American style of roulette
adopted by Playboy in 1965, boosting its flagging
profits in the 1970s until flouting of the Gaming
regulations led to the Gaming Board withdrawing
their licences. The Times reports Playboy casino
profits to have risen to 7,600,000, 1 April
1975, boosted by oil-rich customers from the
Middle East.
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The case of George Raft exemplifies the problem
the government faced in the mid-1960s, as
organised crime infiltrated the gaming industry.
Mr Rafts London publicity agent said the problem
was that the actor has never been able to shake
off the gangster image created by his film
roles. Above New York Times, 2 April,
1955Right The Times, London, 24 February, 1967
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The Law Courts had to interpret the badly drafted
laws. After the Gaming Act 1968 was passed, the
newly established Gaming Board considered banning
Roulette with a zero (2.7 to the Bank), but
finally bowed to pressure from the gaming
industry (The Times, 22 November, 1969) - and the
game survived with the zero.
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The Church Council on Gambling warned of criminal
involvement in gaming. The government hoped that
the Gaming Act 1968 would be effective in
eliminating criminal involvement (Daily Sketch,
30-10-1969)
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In 1968 the Gaming Board was given wide-ranging
powers which the courts have tended to support.
Has the Gaming Board been successful in
fulfilling its aims?
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Source Annual Report of the Gaming Board of
Great Britain, 2003
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Annual Report of the Gaming Board of Great
Britain, 2003, showing regional distribution of
total drop in British casinos 2000 2003.
Londons casinos contribute 80 of the duty
raised. Law Reports can reveal the size of
stakes wagered. E.g. on the night of the 13
February 1997 Lydiashourne permitted a Mr Al
Shamlan, from Kuwait, to stake 6,719,000-worth
of chips, which he lost. His cheques were
dishonoured, but the casino was held liable to
pay the state over 2m. in duty. See
LYDIASHOURNE LIMITED v THE COMMISSIONERS OF
CUSTOMS AND EXCISE (LLR 261 2000) Court of
Appeal, Civil Division.
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Conclusion Pathé newsreel, and The Times both
provide evidence of shifts and changes in
official attitudes towards gaming, from banning
(19th century laws), to inept reform (1960), and
then to tight regulation (1968). In 2003 we find
that Government are proposing radical
deregulation of gaming laws, though it remains to
be seen if legislation will be passed.
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Further Information online

• The Budd Report (July 2001)Review which
  recommended deregulation
• Budd Report BibliographyAppended bibliography
• Gaming Board for Great BritainAnnual reports
  from regulation authority
• Gaming Regulation and Taxation of Casinos (HC May
  2000)Data on state income from gaming