Conservative Party Plans for Ration Cards to Curb Criminals’ Gambling

The Conservative Party is planning to prevent certain criminals from spending their benefits on gambling via the issuing of ration cards that would also ban spending on alcohol and drugs, if the party were to return to power.

The benefit ration cards would apply to welfare claimants who have received a community or suspended sentence where gambling, alcohol or drugs were a factor in the offence.

The cards would bear some similarities with Aspen cards given to asylum seekers, which are only meant to be used to buy basic items.

The card would be pre-loaded with funds which could not be used for cash withdrawals. According to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, up to 130,000 criminals a year could be issued with the cards.

Welfare spending is up

Philp is quoted as saying:

“Hard-working families are taxed to the hilt to fund a welfare system that criminals are gaming. Conservatives say enough and have a clear plan to put an end to this farce by putting an end to criminals spending taxpayer money on gambling and alcohol.”

The UK government, which is led by the Labour Party, forecast it would spend £333.7 billion on the social security system in the 2025/26 financial year. This would be an increase from the estimated £313 billion that was spent on welfare in 2024/25.

Conservatives out of the picture

The prospect of the Conservatives returning to power any time soon would appear unlikely, however. The Conservatives were in power in the UK from 2010 to 2024, but a crushing defeat under the leadership of Rishi Sunak to Labour, led by Sir Keir Starmer, in the 2024 General Election left the party with just 121 seats, down 251 seats from the previous successful election in 2019; it was the worst ever result for the party, in terms of both seats and vote share.

The picture looked even more bleak at this year’s local elections held in May, when the Tories (as they are also known), placed fourth in terms of total councillors with 801, down 563 from when the same seats were contested previously.

Reform UK was the most successful party with 1,454 councillors, up by 1,452. The right-wing vote becoming more split in recent years makes a Tory return to power even more unlikely.

Gambling regulation a common theme

Tighter regulation of gambling in the UK was a common theme when the Conservatives were last in power, and the trend has continued since Labour returned to power.

The trend goes back to 2014, when the point-of-consumption tax was introduced, taxing operators at the point of consumption rather than the point of supply, and this was followed by the slashing of maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals from £100 to £2 in 2019.

In 2023, the government’s Gambling White Paper was published, setting out more than 60 proposals to update the country’s gambling laws. Among the terms recommended were affordability checks, improved identification checks, a statutory levy, and a cap on the maximum stakes on online slots at £5 for older adults and £2 for younger adults.

Labour has continued this trend with the introduction of increased online tax. Remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, was raised from 21% of gross gaming yield (GGY) to 40% in April, and general betting duty, paid on online sports bets, will rise from 15% of GGY to 25% in April 2027; bets on horseracing will be exempt from the increase.