Sir Peter Fry - chairman of the Bingo Association

What was your response to the Budget?

Sir Peter Fry: I was very disappointed and I think most of my members will be as well.

When Gordon Brown announced that a possible change in taxation was likely in last year's Budget, he indicated that he wanted it to be a system which would benefit our players and would also benefit the industry.

This we were pleased to hear because we've been asking for years for a reduction in the heaviest tax burden of any sector in the gaming industry and we desperately needed the ability to give bigger prizes to attract more players.

Frankly what he has done has not achieved either of those objectives.

Is Gordon Brown trying to benefit the player rather than the clubs?

Sir Peter Fry: The trouble is he raised expectations last year of what would happen and the way he announced the change yesterday will also raise expectations. The problem that my members will have is they will not have the wherewithal to put up the prizes considerably as we'd hoped. Nor will they have the money to make the extra investment in the clubs to make them more attractive to customers.

He has calculated for example that it is likely that the change will mean that the prize in an average game in a Bingo club will go up by 45 to 50 pence. This puts it in its context and shows how irrelevant it is.

How does the system compare to that of betting and pools?

Sir Peter Fry: We are very adversely affected. When we started to talk to Customs and Excise about this, we thought we were going to be brought into line with both of those organisations. They have a 15 per cent gross profits tax but do not pay VAT. We pay VAT and that makes all the difference between a good deal and a bad deal.

It is an interesting situation. The chancellor talked about social equality. But if you look at the situation of the man going into the betting shop, the tax structure which affects his gambling is rather different to the structure than the wife is going to experience when she goes into the Bingo hall.

There's no doubt about it. The Bingo player and the Bingo industry has been penalised in a way that the betting industry isn't. Frankly I don't see the social equality between the two sexes on this particular point.

Do you want to see the government to reform gaming laws?

Sir Peter Fry: Very much so. What the government seems to have done is to take the position today and assume that is going to be the position in the future. We have tried to point out to them that there has been a slow decline in the number of clubs operating and following the changes in the gaming legislation no one quite knows where the industry will be.

Certainly some bingo clubs will convert to Casinos as well as hosting their Bingo operations and it is also sure that this may well force smaller Bingo clubs out of business.

So we were looking for something to stimulate us - not just for this year but to give us a real incentive so people can think that there is a future in their club.

We feel that we have been let down on that and we think that the narrow way that the Treasury has looked at this particular tax has totally ignored the trends in the industry and the likely developments which will lead on from the change in the gaming laws.

What is your message to Gordon Brown?

Sir Peter Fry: We really feel that we have been conned. If anybody puts down some criteria and then fails to meet them then we believe its very culpable on his part.

Secondly though, and I think this is really more important for our customers, they have been cheated. They were quite clearly told that there will be a benefit to them.

Indeed, Customs and Excise wanted to issue leaflets in our halls to point out how good this change would be. Surprise, surprise, we learnt yesterday that they had cancelled this leaflet. This tells you everything about their attitude. Though they will defend the change they know perfectly well that this is not the change we have been talking about and need.