A Lords report into gambling regulation has called for ‘urgent action’ to address harms caused by gambling.
House of Lords Gambling Industry Committee’s report Gambling Harm – Time for Action has taken over a year to compile and the results do not make pretty reading for the industry, the regulator and the government.
On its launch, Committee Chair Lord Grade of Yarmouth said: “Urgent action by the Government is required. Lax regulation of the gambling industry must be replaced by a more robust and focussed regime which prioritises the welfare of gamblers ahead of industry profits.
“Addiction is a health problem which should be treated by the NHS and paid for by gambling industry profits. The Government must impose a mandatory levy on the industry. The more harmful a gambling product is, the higher the levy the operator should pay.”
The report makes an enormous 66 recommendations including:
Gaming
Marketing
Betting
Lottery
Regulator
Problem Gambling
The Betting and Gaming Council said the report showed it was time to get on with the promised review of the 2005 Gambling Act. “The BGC welcomes the House of Lords report as a substantial and important report on the future of gambling regulation. There is much in it that we support and whilst we don’t agree with every recommendation, we feel this is an important contribution to the debate and the approach the Lords took was constructive.
“We would now urge the Government to bring forward their planned Review of the Gambling Act without delay and to work with the industry on an evidence-led approach to future regulation.”
Gambling Commission Chief Executive Neil McArthur added: “We welcome this report and are already working on a number of the recommendations highlighted. As we made clear in our evidence to this and other committees, we need greater resources to be able to meet the challenges ahead. Our current funding arrangements do not give us the resources we need and we are working closely with DCMS to address that.
“We have made considerable progress in many areas to make gambling safer. We have tightened the regulation of the online sector and taken much tougher enforcement action against operators, including suspending and revoking licences. In the weeks ahead we will be publishing plans to remove potentially addictive features in games, further improve customer interaction and strengthen affordability checks.
“We recognise that criticism is something that all regulators face. Where the criticisms are justified we will learn from them, but as we have been completely transparent and candid in all the evidence we have given to the various committees, in many areas this and other recent reports are playing back issues we have raised, know we need to work on and are already working to improve.”
