Three years, six ministers and one white paper: how we got here

The British government's long-awaited white paper on gambling regulation was published on Thursday. Here we look back at the long road that has led us to this moment . . .

April 2005

The Gambling Act 2005 receives Royal Assent. It sets out how gambling in Great Britain is regulated and also creates the Gambling Commission.

September 2007

The act comes fully into force.

2012 The Campaign For Fairer Gambling is formed and goes on to launch the Stop The FOBTs campaign.

December 2014

The Gambling (Licensing & Advertising) Act 2014 updates the Gambling Act, including a requirement that all offshore operators such as those in based in Gibraltar pay a 15 per cent point of consumption tax on gross profits.

June 2017

The campaign against gains traction and the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, SNP and UKIP all promise to take action against them in their general election manifestos.

May 2018

The government announces the maximum stake for FOBTs will be cut to £2 from £100. The change comes into effect the following April. Campaigners turn their attention to online gambling.

December 2019

Voters go to the polls again with the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats all pledging to take action over gambling in their manifestos.

April 2020

The Gambling Commission announces that gambling using credit cards is to be banned.

September 2020

The Gambling Commission introduces strict new rules for 'VIP' schemes and warns they will be banned unless improvements are made.

November 2020

The Gambling Commission launches a consultation which includes a call for evidence on what the thresholds for affordability checks should be. It receives around 13,000 submissions but its findings are still awaited.

December 2020

The government announces a review of the Gambling Act, to "make sure it is fit for the digital age". It closes the following March with 16,000 responses.

March 2021

John Whittingdale, regarded as being less hawkish about gambling reform, takes over the gambling brief at the DCMS from Nigel Huddleston.

September 2021

A Boris Johnson reshuffle results in Whittingdale being replaced by Chris Philp, the third gambling minister in the nine months since the government's review was launched. Oliver Dowden is succeeded by Nadine Dorries as culture secretary. Both are regarded as being pro gambling reform.

November 2021

Philp says the white paper would be revealed "in the relatively near future", provoking suspicions that the government would miss the expected target of a pre-Christmas publication.

December 2021

Philp tells the GambleAware Conference that gambling is a "public health issue", that affordability checks need to be "proportionate" and that the white paper is expected "in the coming months".

January 2022

Former minister John Whittingdale tells the Betting and Gaming Council: "My latest understanding is, I think, the ambition is to try to get the white paper out before Easter."

May 2022

A Racing Post investigation unveils the tactics used by unregulated black market betting sites to entice and keep punters betting with them. They include the use of credit cards, personal managers who encourage heavy gambling to unlock bigger bonuses and allowing those signed up to GamStop, the self-exclusion service, to continue betting with them.

June 2022

Despite having been expected by Christmas 2021, the gambling review white paper is yet to be published. DCMS minister Huddleston tells parliament it is expected "in the coming weeks".

July 2022

The DCMS aims to publish the white paper before the summer recess but the chaos surrounding the government and the eventual resignation of prime minister Boris Johnson leads to another delay. Philp is among the ministers to resign and is succeeded by Damian Collins. The white paper will now be published in October at the earliest.

September 2022

Dorries resigns after Liz Truss becomes prime minister. Michelle Donelan takes over as culture secretary and Collins is reappointed.

October 2022

Yet more delays to the white paper are expected as Truss's brief spell at Number 10 comes to an end and she is replaced as prime minister by Rishi Sunak. Damian Collins subsequently leaves the DCMS and Paul Scully becomes gambling minister number five since the review was launched.

December 2022

Donelan says the government remains "committed to the gambling white paper", is taking a "common sense approach" to gambling reform and that its proposals will be out "within a matter of weeks".

Estimated cost to racing's revenue is put at £40 million by Martin Cruddace, chief executive of Arena Racing Company, as a result of an £800m drop in digital turnover for the previous 12 months, in a three-part expose by the Racing Post into the impact of affordability checks.

January 2023

"Let me be really clear here that it is not the role of the government, it is not the role of the Gambling Commission, to tell people how much of their salary they are 'allowed to' spend on gambling," Scully tells the Betting and Gaming Council annual meeting.

February 2023

Prime minister Rishi Sunak carries out a mini reshuffle with Donelan and Scully both moving to the newly-created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. They are replaced respectively by Lucy Frazer and, eventually Stuart Andrew.

The Big Punting Survey conducted by the Racing Post shows one in six punters have already been the subject of some form of affordability check. Of the 10,400 respondents, 3.6 per cent had said they had used the black market in the last 12 months with 11 per cent recording that they knew someone who had used it. A third of those surveyed said they would consider using unregulated markets if they were unable to bet what they wanted with regulated firms.

March 2023

The Easter recess arrives without the white paper being published but expectations grow that it will finally appear when parliament returns in April.

April 2023

Gambling review white paper is published on April 27.

Read more:

BHA concern over financial risk checks as government reveals white paper 

'Frictionless' affordability checks raise more questions than answers 

Gambling white paper: key plans, affordability checks and what it means 

Subscribe today | Get 50% off your first three months 

Sign up to receive On The Nose, our essential daily newsletter, from the Racing Post. Your unmissable morning feed, direct to your email inbox every morning.