HL Deb 30 January 2003 vol 643 cc180-1WA
Lord Fearn

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When passing legislation on the modernising of gambling machine payment methods, whether they will deregulate to allow the use of banknotes and prepaid smart cards in addition to coinage in gaming machines. [HL1284]

Baroness Blackstone

That remains our intention. InA Safe Bet fin. Success, which the Government published in March 2002 and which set out our plans for the overall reform of the controls on gambling, we said that we would change the law on adults-only gaming machines to allow them to use these payment methods. In March 2001, we consulted on proposals to achieve these objectives by means of an order under the Regulatory Reform Act 2001, and we will be announcing our decision on taking that forward soon.