§ 67. Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, in view of the recent large increase in fixed odds betting on professional football matches, he will introduce legislation to provide that the minimum number of 72W matches on which such bets may be laid shall be raised from three to six.
§ Mr. BrookeI assume that the object which the hon. Member has in mind is to reduce the temptations to corruption of professional footballers. The Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act, 1963, does not prescribe any minimum number of matches on which fixed odds bets may be laid; and I do not think that to insert such a provision would be an appropriate or indeed a particularly effective method of dealing with a problem of this kind.