A new anti-gambling campaign group has called for the UK Government to force local gambling operator to pay 1% of their profits in order to contribute to authorities’ efforts to tackle problem gambling addiction.
The group, called Gambling With Lives, includes some parents whose children were driven to suicide after getting desperate over their gambling debts. The group’s members have demanded from the competent authorities to roll out a new levy that could help them fund better problem gambling prevention and treatment services and support for gambling addicts’ families.
According to the Gambling With Lives group, compulsive problem gamblers were up to three times more likely to attempt suicide than other addicts. The families of such gamblers, as well as anti-gambling campaigners, have insisted that support in terms of such addicts should be improved. As mentioned above, the group has urged the UK Government to impose a 1% tax, as well as for online casino and slot games’ maximum stake of £2. The anti-gambling campaigners also called for greater recognition of gambling addiction as a public health issue.
Contribution to Problem Gambling Charities Must Be Boosted
As previously reported by Casino Guardian, currently there are approximately 430,000 adult problem gamblers on the territory of the UK, with 1.57 million more considered to be “at risk” of becoming addicted to gambling. For some time now, experts in the field of problem gambling treatment have warned that there was an increased gambling participation of under-aged individuals, with more children becoming addicted to gambling operations.
A 2017 research conducted by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) found that about 25,000 children between the age of 11 and 16 were gambling addicts, while another 36,000 were considered to be at risk of becoming problem gamblers. One of the parents who lost a child due to a gambling addiction which led to a suicide, Liz Ritchie, blamed gambling companies for targeting young people.
In an interview for The Daily Mail, Ms. Ritchie said that many ordinary children get “groomed” by British gambling operators. They joined the Gambling With Lives group and intend to lobby the politicians to seek further gambling legislation changes.
The UK gambling sector accounted for an overall profit estimated to £13.8 billion over the 2015/2016 fiscal year. In case that the new 1% levy was imposed, operators would have been expected to donate a total contribution of £138 million. However, the local gambling operators managed to ink a deal with last Labour Government when it removed restrictions and regulations on gambling in 2007. Under the agreement, the companies are expected to make a voluntary contribution of 0.1% only.
Money received by charity organisations engaged in prevention and treatment of problem gambling has been widely discussed lately. Previously, GambleAware, which is entitled with the responsibility to administer the donations and supports the only clinic in the UK which specialises in problem gambling treatment, have raised a red flag revealing that it received just £8 million in donations in 2016. According to information provided by GambleAware, the gambling operators’ contributions to gambling addiction prevention and treatment rose to £9 million in 2017.
- Author
Olivia Cole
