Labour’s Whitehall Shake-Up Could Scrap DCMS

At the end of April, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced it would delay its plans to loosen long-running limits on slot machines in adult gaming centers amid increasing concerns regarding at-risk players, upsetting industry leaders who had been looking forward to rule changes. 

Now, the gambling industry could face a major shift in the way it interacts with the UK government, as reports suggest the DCMS may be on the chopping block. 

The DCMS Could Be Scrapped Entirely

According to The Sunday Times, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s top adviser, Morgan McSweeney, is leading efforts to restructure Whitehall following disappointing local election results. 

The move could see longstanding departments reconfigured or even dissolved. At the heart of this proposed shake-up is the DCMS, a key player in UK gambling policy. 

The department has been responsible for overseeing gambling regulation and led the extensive review that culminated in the Gambling White Paper of 2023. 

With that process still unfinished, the timing of its potential dismantling raises serious concerns for the sector.

One of the more radical proposals reportedly on the table is to scrap the DCMS entirely. The responsibilities of the department that recorded 14 secretaries since 2010 would be absorbed by other government bodies. 

Businesses and treasuries will likely take on the economic aspects, while departments such as education and welfare would handle the social side. 

If that happens, current Secretary of State Lisa Nandy would be out of her post, and the future of Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross would be uncertain.

Key Reforms, in Limbo

This development could not come at a more delicate moment for the gambling sector. Just as new stake limits and a mandatory levy have been rolled out, key reforms remain in limbo.

Among them, regulations for land-based gambling, the establishment of a gambling ombudsman, and a final decision on financial risk checks. 

A change in leadership could further slow or completely disrupt these processes.

The uncertainty also casts a shadow over other ongoing projects, including the Gambling Commission’s GamProtect initiative, which aims to create a unified customer view to better track gambling behavior across operators.

Another hot-button issue that may now hang in the balance is the proposed consolidation of online gambling taxes into a single Remote Betting and Gaming Duty. 

Industry stakeholders had hoped to work with the DCMS to influence this proposal, but if the department disappears, that dialogue may have to start anew with less familiar counterparts.

For now, the industry awaits clarity, but if the DCMS does go, it would mark the end of an era for gambling regulation in the UK. 

The effectiveness of the governing institution that has been in place since 1992 has been repeatedly scrutinised by several governments, with emphasis on its entanglements with a variety of culture war conflicts. 
Nonetheless, dismantling the DCMS solely to ease political pressure from the Reform Party would cast doubt on Starmer’s intentions.