House of Lords select committee on gambling hears about ideas after revelations of underage betting
A child-free exclusion zone around racecourse bookmakers is one of the ideas being considered in the wake of news, revealed by the Guardian on Monday, that seven bookmakers are facing hefty fines for taking a bet from a 16-year-old at Royal Ascot last summer. The idea was floated by Robin Grossmith of the Federation of Racecourse Bookmakers as he gave evidence to a House of Lords select committee on gambling on Tuesday.
“One of our guys has put forward an idea, which could possibly work, that you have an exclusion zone in front of the bookmakers, perhaps a metre or something like that, that nobody under the age of 18 can cross that line,” Grossmith said. “That could be a help but this is something we need to speak to the racecourses about, because it is their land.”