MERKUR’s 360 safer gambling programme, the contributions made by low stake gaming venues to high street economies and Milton Keynes bid to be awarded city status were just three of the topics of conversation when Ben Everitt MP spent an hour in the company of PR and Public Affairs Director Tony Boulton, Head of Compliance Amanda Kiernan and the venue team at Wolverton.
Mr Everitt became the 30th MP to learn more about the commitments and challenges facing the business ahead of the gambling White Paper which is scheduled for publication in December, but the visit wasn’t just about the industry as Tony Boulton explained: “Of course we discussed issues such as the problems we are currently experiencing recruiting staff, and what the industry needs from the government’s Review of Gambling such as cashless payments, the 80/20 rule and the reintroduction of a regular review of stake and prize levels to keep pace with inflation – but we also spoke at some length about local issues as well.”
He added: “Mr Everitt is passionate about Milton Keynes being awarded city status in 2022 which is the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Many of the people we employ at our head office are from Milton Keynes and we fully support the campaign he is driving with his colleague Iain Stewart, the MP for Milton Keynes South. He also spoke about his vision to establish a new technical university in the constituency and we were able to highlight the advanced technology that powers the latest digital games from Blueprint.”