BETTER CHANGE
Have we taken Safer Gambling too far?
Better Change’s Engagement Director, Rob Mabbett, considers the implications of blanket restrictions if we take the stance that gambling is a public health issue.
I 24 APRIL 2024
n my 12 years in the industry, I have never encountered anyone working in gambling who has wished harm in any way upon any of their customers, not once. Yet currently in the UK we are witnessing a sustained attack on our industry which is almost certainly going to drastically change the
landscape in terms of how gambling is regulated but more importantly it is changing the way in which gambling is perceived. There is a big difference between being averse to gambling harm and being anti-gambling. If we are to accept the stance that gambling is a public health issue, then we are accepting that gambling at all levels brings with it some form of harm or is in some way detrimental to our wellbeing. There would be no coming back from this. To classify gambling in this way would lead to ever
increasing restrictions and stigmatising of gambling until it reaches a point where it is no longer a viable product for businesses or an enjoyable product for its consumers. I am loath to draw comparisons to other industries, but it is impossible not to look at tobacco (a product which has been unequivocally proven to be detrimental to health at any level) and see a path which I’m sure most within our industry would
like to avoid. We saw widespread campaigns to stigmatise smoking in the 1990’s, advertising was banned, graphic pictures of some of the gruesome health impacts were displayed, the product was altered it terms of its strength and how they could be purchased, and the age restriction first raised from 16 to 18 around 2010 is now possibly going to increase each year so that younger people will never be able to smoke legally. Sound familiar? Well, it doesn’t stop there! Due to price increases, the smoking black market flourished.
First with smuggled tobacco then dangerous bootleg cigarettes with ingredients even more dangerous than the regulated product was in the first place. There are some startling similarities here with gambling. Advertising has been under the microscope, we are seeing the introduction of increased restrictions for 18–24-year-olds, first with online gambling limits and now as proposed in the gambling act tighter online stake limits for young people playing online slots. Common sense, some would say, and it would be hard to disagree but we need to take heed of the example of tobacco and make sure that we regulate gambling appropriately. Let’s start with the fact that the majority of people who gamble are able to do so without negative consequences and it is an enjoyable activity for millions. There are a huge range of gambling products and activities available each with their own volatility and their own level of risk. For the most part those facilitating gambling be it in casinos, sports betting, lottery or bingo understand their products and recognise the markers of harm that are associated with them that may indicate that a player is in difficulty and may need some support. This has been a huge topic over the past decade with specialist businesses set up to support the gambling industry, to suggest this has not improved the landscape in terms of preventing gambling harm would be pretty disingenuous at best but this is the situation that we find ourselves in. The implementation of blanket restrictions that affect a
large number of people unnecessarily in the hope that it will prevent harm in a small amount of people on the face of it looks like lazy regulation or policy to appease political
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