A former top executive at the British Department for Culture, Media and Sport is employed by a casino company, it was discovered yesterday.
Elliot Grant, 56, who served as the head of gambling in the department, is currently paid £500-a-day as a special advisor on casino applications for the Rank Group, which runs the Grosvenor chain of 30 casinos in the United Kingdom.
Rank has been lobbying the Government to considerably increase the number of high-stakes slot machines that the law currently allows. These slot machines enable players to risk much more money, £40 each round, time in return for a maximum win of £4,000. The regular stake on slot machines is £1, for a win of £25.
Critics commented on the news and said it brought up new questions about the Government's close ties with the gambling industry, which brings in hundreds of millions of pounds into the Treasury.
Nigel Evans, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: "It looks like a case of gamekeeper turned poacher".
Grant was the advisor of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and left in 2005. He was still advising Jowell when her department was drafting the controversial Gambling Act, which was followed recently with the planned Las Vegas-style super-casino in Manchester.
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