Gareth Davis, chairman of bookmaker William Hill, has issued a warning on the amount of state intervention in Great Britain, despite the improving health of the country’s economy.
Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper, Davis said since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been “a lot more intervention on many, many more areas of business than we were ever used to”.
“If you look at the spread of industries…and the focus on governance issues, particularly the remuneration issue…I’d have to conclude that in my 40 years of working life this is the most intervention I’ve seen,” Davis said.
“Most foreign observers would find that staggering, but we are where we are.”
Great Britain’s economic recovery currently faces a number of political risks, such as this year’s Scottish referendum, a possible referendum on European Union membership and the general election in 2015.
William Hill and other UK bookmakers are also under pressure from the main political parties over a number of issues, including the number of betting shops in the UK, the potential harmful effects of fixed-odds betting terminals and the amount of gambling adverts currently being broadcast on UK television.
Many industry observers believe bookmakers only have themselves to blame for failing to lobby effectively to combat the threat of greater regulation.
Davis admitted that bookmakers have not addressed the concerns of politicians quickly enough.
“The problem is people start lobbying once an initiative has been launched,” Davis said.
“The time to really be lobbying is well before any initiative.”
