Poker

LITTLE BY little the restrictions on casino gambling are being eased. Last week the Home Office announced that it will introduce new measures for casinos in England and Wales to stay open until 6am on Mondays to Saturdays, and minor changes to the rules for blackjack and punto banco.

At present casinos are open 2pm-4am. Some people may consider that long enough. But gamblers like to play on into the small hours, especially Asian players who come into Mayfair casinos late at night. (Poker players, of course, would play round the clock if allowed to do so.) The licensing laws will remain as they are. The proposed change at blackjack will allow a lone player to play just one box instead of a minimum of two - big deal! The change at punto banco is a procedural device, to speed up play.

If approved, these changes will come into effect next spring. The idea is to remove petty restrictions, not to promote gambling. But given that change in the regulations is difficult to achieve, this will be welcomed by the industry.

What is needed (as everyone agrees) is to hold an overall review of gambling policy, covering horse-racing and the lottery as well as casinos, rather than these small "salami slices" of reform. The review is a little nearer, judging by positive remarks by the Home Office minister responsible for gambling policy, Mike O'Brien. He told the British Casino Association that the Government is "actively considering holding a gambling review".

The new chairman of the Gaming Board, Peter Dean, is a businessman with a strong commitment to open competition and reform. But if a review is set up, it will not report until after the next general election.

The Gaming Board is to launch a review of gambling on the Internet, early next year. One idea is that if Internet casinos based in Britain were subject to licensing, it would give players around the world a sense of fair play - something that punters have to take on trust in Internet casinos based in Costa Rica and elsewhere.