- Tom Watson has campaign to slash stakes of fixed terms betting machines to £2
- He was given £30,000 from millionaire ex casino games developer Derek Webb
- Tory MP Andrew Bridgen accused Labour deputy of hypocrisy for taking money
Labour’s deputy leader has been accused of ‘staggering hypocrisy’ for taking £30,000 in donations from an ex gambling mogul while vowing to crack down on betting.
Tom Watson has campaigned to slash the maximum stake which can be bet on fixed-odds betting terminals – dubbed crack cocaine gambling machines – from £100 to £2.
And he has repeatedly torn into the Conservative Government for not doing enough to curb gambling in Britain.
But it has now emerged he has taken £30,000 in donations from Derek Webb, a former gambling mogul who made millions of pounds when he sold his casino firm.
Tom Watson has campaigned to slash the maximum stake which can be bet on fixed-odds betting terminals – dubbed crack cocaine gambling machines – from £100 to £2.
Mr Webb is a multi-millionaire who made his fortune designing machines for casinos and inventing three card poker he sold the rights to.
He is the founder of casino games developer Prime Table Games, which he sold in October 2011 to the Las Vegas-based Galaxy Gaming for $23m (then £14.5million).
Mr Webb set up the Campaign for Fairer gambling group which campaigns against fixed-odds betting terminals.
And he has previously sparked criticism and his opponents claimed he would benefit from curbs to the betting machines, although he has denied this.
Tom Watson, pictured in 2013 outside Parliament with Derek Webb (pictured immediately to his left) and other members of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling. Mr Watson as been accused of hypocrisy y taking the former casino share-holder’s money, but said he started highlighting the dangers of fixed-odds betting machines long before he met Mr Webb
Tory MP for North West Leicestershire Andrew Bridgen told The Sun: ‘This is staggering hypocrisy but I wouldn’t bet anything on Jeremy Corbyn or Tom Watson ever getting into power.’
Official accounts show that Mr Webb has given £30,500 to Mr Watson in three donations – £25,000 of this went towards helping to bankroll the MP’s campaign to become Labour’s deputy leader in may 2015.
The rest went on funding two big dinners for Mr Watson and his supporters in his constituency of West Bromwich East.
Mr Watson has accused bookmakers of deliberately ‘targeting our poorest communities to line shareholders’ pockets’ by installing the machines.
Mr Watson said: ‘I’d never met Derek when I started to highlight the dangers of these highly addictive machines.
‘He is right to take a stand against them and I will continue to campaign alongside him.’