The Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith has been accused of being too close to the betting industry following two recent donations to his campaign.
The MP for Richmond has accepted a £3,000 donation from the top gambling industry lobbyists, Camberton Associates, which has represented major gambling firms including Ladbrokes.
Camberton is run by Mark Davies, a former Betfair executive. Davies said that Camberton has not had gambling clients since the first half of 2015 or advised on fixed odd betting terminals, but added that he remains a shareholder of Betfair.
Goldsmith has also accepted a separate donation in the form of auction prizes from Damian Aspinall – owner of the Aspinall’s group which includes casinos in Mayfair and Stratford.
He has a personal financial interest in the gambling industry. He owns a 20% stake in Fitzdares, a high-end “bespoke” bookmaker.
In addition to his brother Ben, his partners in the business include his longstanding associate Balthazar Fabricius – from whom he reportedly won £50,000 in a personal bet on the 2005 Ashes, and James Osborne, the chancellor’s uncle.
Adrian Parkinson, from the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said: “Goldsmith should think more carefully about whom he takes his money from. With London swamped with betting shops and fixed odds betting terminals, surely he must have suspected an ulterior motive?”
London local authorities are pushing to limit the influence of high-street bookmakers – particularly through the use of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOTBs) which have been called the crack cocaine of gambling.
Newham council has resubmitted a plan to the government to allow local authorities to stop the clustering of betting shops in poorer areas and to tackle the risk posed by FOTBs to vulnerable people – limiting the maximum stake from £100 to £2. Growing concerns around betting shops prompted the Local Government Association to set up a Betting Commission to get councils, the Association of British Bookmakers and the Big Five firms – William Hill, Coral, BetFred, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power – around the table. The commission is recommending that the companies and councils work more closely to tackle local concerns, and for bookies to swiftly act on complaints.
Goldsmith’s Labour rival, Sadiq Khan, has been leading the campaign to reduce the impact of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, saying over the summer: “They are blighting communities and tearing at the fabric of society. We must control the growth of betting shops before even more damage is done to our nation’s health and wellbeing.”
Nearly all London councils have called for a crackdown on betting shops and high stake roulette machines – a policy that has been rejected by Goldsmith’s party.
The race to become mayor has become increasingly personal over the last two weeks.
Khan has accused his Tory rival in an advertisement of being a “serial underachiever” who “isn’t up to the job” of running the capital.
The ad, which will be promoted on Twitter and Facebook, is Labour’s equivalent of Goldsmith’s six-point leaflet against the Tooting MP which was posted through letterboxes around outer London before Christmas. Labour sources have claimed that Goldsmith’s use of the terms “divisive and radical” to describe Khan was actually a “coded racist attack”.
A spokesperson for Zac Goldsmith said that writing about Goldsmith’s links to gambling was an “old story” and described Khan as “a chancer” on the issue of casinos.
“The Labour party tried to run this story in the media last year until it was revealed that whilst Sadiq Khan now attempts to portray himself as anti-gambling to win votes, he has a track record of supporting the gambling industry, including championing super casinos which would have destroyed the communities they were forced upon,” she said.
