Tom Watson MP and Jonathan Ashworth MP announce Labour review of NHS treatment of gambling addiction
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Tom WatsonMP, Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary,
and Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Health Secretary, announce
Labour review of NHS treatment of gambling addiction.
· Review to
investigate extent of gambling addiction and problem gambling, and
the NHS’s ability to provide effective mental health treatment to
those affected. ...Request free
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Tom WatsonMP, Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, and Jonathan Ashworth MP, Shadow Health Secretary, announce Labour review of NHS treatment of gambling addiction.
Labour will conduct a review into NHS mental health services’ ability to deal with gambling addiction, in the face of mounting evidence that the UK’s hidden gambling addiction is growing.
The review, announced on Tuesday jointly by Shadow Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Tom Watson and Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth, will look at whether the NHS has the resources and expertise it needs to treat those affected by gambling addiction, and what improvements could be made.
And it will investigate whether the gambling industry should make a greater contribution to funding the cost of treatment, including through the use of a compulsory hypothecated levy.
A report by the Gambling Commission last month estimated that the number of British over-16s deemed to be problem gamblers had grown by a third in three years, suggesting that about 430,000 people suffer from a serious habit. It found that more than 2 million people in the UK are either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction.
Gambling firms contribute on a voluntary basis to GambleAware, which funds education, prevention and treatment services, including the UK’s only dedicated gambling addiction clinic in London.
GambleAware asks the industry to donate 0.1 per cent of gross gaming yield (the total amount taken in bets, minus the total amount paid out in winnings).
In the year to September 2016 the gross gaming yield was a record £13.8 billion.
If the gambling industry was meeting the 0.1 per cent level GambleAware asks for, its total contribution would come to £13.8 million, but in 2015/16 the firms contributed just £7.6 million.
According to Kate Lampard, chair of GambleAware, a number of gambling firms are “taking the mickey” and one bookmaker sent a cheque for just 1p.
In his speech to Labour Party conference on Tuesday, Tom Watson is expected to say:
“The next Labour Government will finally confront problem gambling.
“Some gambling companies, driven by greed, are deliberately targeting our poorest communities even as hundreds of thousands of lives are ruined by addiction. The number of problem gamblers in this country has risen by a third in just three years. 2 million people are either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction.
“Children and young people are being targeted by betting advertisers more than ever.
“We now know that when vulnerable people try to opt-out of online gambling, companies don’t always block their accounts, as they should.
“Gambling companies are even harvesting data to deliberately target low-income gamblers and people who have given up gambling. More than half of companies profit from “risk” gamblers.
“This has to stop. Gambling companies must be held to account for this abuse of trust and power.
“Can you imagine the uproar that would ensue if drinks manufacturers targeted members of Alcoholics Anonymous by selling vodka outside AA meetings?
“We wouldn’t tolerate that – and we should no longer tolerate the same pattern of irresponsible behavior by some bookmakers.
“And addicts must be given the help they need. Gambling addiction is an illness and it’s about time it was taken seriously.
“So I can announce today that, together with Jonathan Ashworth, our Shadow Health Secretary, I’m launching a thorough review of gambling addiction in this country and current provision for treatment on the NHS.
“It will assess the feasibility of making the gambling industry pay a compulsory levy to fund NHS treatment and help lift problem gamblers out of the destructive cycle of addiction.
“At the moment, the industry is asked to make voluntary contributions of 0.1 per cent of profits – but it doesn’t.
“So my message to gambling firms today could not be clearer: stop targeting vulnerable people. Start acting responsibly. And meet your obligation to help those whose lives been blighted by addiction.
“You can do it now, because it’s the right thing to do. Or you can wait for the next Labour government to do it for you.
“And mark my words – we will.”
Ends
Editor’s Notes:
UK’s hidden gambling epidemic
IPPR, 13 December 2016, https://www.ippr.org/news-and-media/press-releases/problem-gamblers-could-cost-britain-up-to-1-2-billion-new-research-shows
Gambling companies not paying their fair share
â— Gambling companies contribute on a voluntary basis to GambleAware, which funds education, prevention and treatment services, including the UK’s only dedicated gambling addiction clinic in London. â— If the gambling industry was meeting the 0.1 per cent level GambleAware asks for, its total contribution would come to £13.8 million, but in 2015/16 the firms contributed just £7.6 million. According to Kate Lampard, chair of GambleAware, a number of gambling firms are “taking the mickey” and one bookmaker sent them a cheque for just 1p. Financial Times, 28 October 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/9f6440fe-9b93-11e6-8f9b-70e3cabccfae
FOBTs
â— There are 34,388 FOBTs in the UK. Each can take bets of up to £100 every 20 seconds, meaning that punters can gamble – and lose – hundreds of pounds a minute.
â— The amount British gamblers lose on FOBTs has risen from £1 billion in 2009 to £1.8 billion last year, an increase of 73%.
â— Each FOBT machine generates an average of £52,887 per year.
â— More than one in nine people (11.5%) who use FOBTs in bookmakers’ shops are problem gamblers. Gambling Commission, 24 August 2017,http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2017/New-research-shows-more-progress-needed-to-tackle-problem-gambling.aspx
â— Labour is calling for the maximum stake to be cut from £100 to £2 – this was in our manifesto. We’re waiting to see what the result of the Government’s heavily delayed review is going to be.
Young people
â— Research by the Gambling Commission found that 16% of 11-15 year olds had taken part in some gambling activity with their own money in the week prior to the study – much higher than the comparable figures for smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs.
â— 75% of 11-15 year olds had seen gambling adverts on TV, with 63% seeing social media adverts and 57% seeing other online adverts. Gambling Commission, Young People and Gambling 2016, http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/survey-data/Young-people-and-gambling-2016.pdf
Advertising
â— The gambling industry has spent £1.4 billion on advertising since 2012, with online casinos doubling their marketing budgets over the past five years.
â— Gambling companies use third-party companies to harvest data which enables them to target advertising at people on low incomes and those who have a previous history of gambling but have stopped. Guardian, 31 August 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/31/gambling-industry-third-party-companies-online-casinos
â— 25 out of the 92 Football League clubs, including 9 out of the 20 Premier League clubs, have shirt sponsorship from a gambling company. The FA recently terminated its commercial agreement with Ladbrokes. [1] FA, 22 June 2017, http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/jun/22/ladbrokes-the-fa-220617. .Labour is calling for a ban on football shirt sponsorship deals with gambling companies.
Recent scandals
â— One of Britain’s largest online gambling firms, 888, was fined a record £7.8 million in August for safeguarding failures. The company allowed 7,000 people who had chosen to self-exclude from gambling to continue to access their accounts. It ignored signs of problem gambling from one customer who bet over £1.3 million, including £55,000 stolen from their employer. Gambling Commission, 31 August 2017, http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2017/Gambling-firm-888-to-pay-over-7.8million-for-failing-vulnerable-customers.aspx |