Poker Fuse – No wonder the UK has a more liberal gambling regime than most EU countries: gambling websites are accessed 700,000 times a year from within the Houses of Parliament.
The UK Daily Mail newspaper reports on a Freedom of Information (FoI) request which revealed the figures. In a single month, UK site Bet365 was accessed 16,986 times—so not just gambling, but patriotic gambling, and perhaps even some favoritism being paid to personal constituencies.
Not all the gambling site visits were made by Members of Parliament (MP); the figures only show gross figures for all employees working in the Palace of Westminster. The numbers did show falls during parliamentary recesses, suggesting that MPs and their immediate staff were responsible for their fair share.
An earlier FoI request discovered that a website connecting people so they could have adulterous affairs was visited 52,375 times in seven months. Access to that site has now been banned.
A spokesperson told the Daily Mail that “These figures are not a reliable guide to the level of usage within the house.”
At least British MPs haven’t yet been caught playing poker on camera—a fate that has befallen US Senator John McCain and a number of French Deputies.
