Labour Conference 2004 in Brighton: Sun International's fake gambling debate

Captain Sensible | 28.09.2004 00:41 | Globalisation | South Coast

Everyone's a winner... except for the British public. Casino operator Sun International knows how to play the system, and unlike in the case of their customers, nothing is left to chance!

At this year's Labour party conference in Brighton, on Tuesday 28th September, Sun International is sponsoring a debate with the wholly disingenuous title "Gambling, regeneration, and social responsibility: can everyone be a winner?". Who's on the discussion panel? No surprises there. Sun International itself is represented by director Peter Byrne. And Lord McIntosh, the minister responsible for gambling, will also be on the panel to jot down Byrne's instructions.

The big prize that Sun International has its eye on are a series of 'mega-casinos' around the country - handily located in some of Britain's most deprived urban areas. But before this utopian vision can be realized, there are a few minor problems to sort out.

According to Sun International's CEO, Britain's gambling laws are out of date and are in need of an 'update'. He's referring to inconvenient regulations such as the one that requires new customers to register with a casino 24 hours before they can do any gambling, and the one that bans casinos from selling alcohol. Of course, these quaint old laws gets in the way of creating profitable problem gamblers and/or drunks. But not to worry - according to him, "the UK government had now realised the need to update these regulations, bringing gambling into the mainstream economy." Well, problem sorted then!

Birmingham is one of the cities that Sun is eyeing up as a site for a mega-casino. And so, surprise, surprise, the leader of Birmingham City Council will be also be on the 'discussion' panel at Sun's fake debate.

Never mind though - 'Professor' Peter Collins from Manchester University's Centre for the Study of Gambling will also be on hand. He'll inject a note of academic independence and rigour, won't he? Er, hang on, probably not, as in actual fact the Centre for the Study of Gambling is entirely funded by the gambling industry, and Peter Byrne from Sun International is Chairman of the Advisory Board. Oh well!

What about Lord David Lipsey, of the Social Market Foundation, the nut-job free-marketeering think tank that organized the 'debate'? Well, he's on the Advisory Board of 'Professor' Collins's Centre too - and is in charge of the privatisation of the Tote.

Naturally, in its publicity material for the 'debate', the Social Market Foundation doesn't see fit to mention these links between the panellists, giving an entirely misleading impression as to the validity and neutrality of the 'debate'. Do ya feel lucky? Sun International does!

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