UK association Business in Sport and Leisure has announced that it will not be continuing in its current format beyond December 2013 and plans instead to focus separately upon the main specialist areas that matter most to its current members, of which gambling is one.
BISL's Machines Sub-Group and Gambling Working Group intend to continue to meet and work together as a group of interested parties with a common agenda.
“We have been busy over the last year or so dealing with the issues our members have brought to the table and with the many changes that have been affecting the machines areas of our industry,” said chief executive Peter Hannibal (pictured). “Because of our collective engagement the MSG is already recognised as the UK’s largest group of machine manufacturers and related businesses, and looking forward we have developed into a significant force for change and debate both within the industry and in our representations to politicians, regulators and other stakeholders.
"From a sector of the industry which has been fractured and fragmented for so long, it is reassuring to see the enthusiasm for change and collaboration from everyone who has engaged with the MSG to date.”
Nick Harding, chairman of the GWG, said: “I don’t think that there is any doubt that we will be stronger and more effective with the regulators and with government if we can continue to speak with one voice, and to work and lobby cohesively. The GWG has been particularly effective in achieving this.
“We need to continue to have grown-up debate and strategic thinking that will maintain the wellbeing and futures of our organisations and our people. This is at a time when gambling continues to be a soft target for anyone with a negative agenda of any kind, despite the size of the UK gaming entertainment industry, the people that it employees and the tax revenues that it contributes to the exchequer.”
