HC Deb 17 February 1989 vol 147 cc406-7W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he proposes to initiate the inquiry into horserace betting recommended by the Royal Commission on Gambling in 1978.

Mr. John Patten

The Royal Commission recommended a study of bookmaking finances, possibly through the Office of Fair Trading and the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Beginning in 1986, the Office of Fair Trading undertook extensive inquiries into the off-course bookmaking industry, to see if it should be the subject of a complex monopoly reference to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. In January 1988, the Director-General of that Office announced that he had decided that there were no grounds for such a reference.

We are considering a recommendation from the chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board that, following my right hon. Friend's forthcoming determination of the 28th horserace betting levy scheme, there should be an inquiry into the long term financing of racing.

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