The chief executive of the parent company of Ladbrokes and Coral has welcomed comments made by government minister Paul Scully about affordability checks and the forthcoming gambling review white paper that pointed towards the possibility of less intrusive scrutiny of bettors…

Scully, the minister with responsibility for gambling, told the Betting and Gaming Council annual meeting last week it was not the job of government or industry regulator the Gambling Commission to tell people how much they could afford to bet and that, instead of intrusive affordability checks, he favoured “financial risk” checks which would be “frictionless”.

Speaking to analysts, Nygaard-Andersen said the minister’s comments appeared to be advocating freedom of choice.