Winning Post: Gambling Review... History Repeating Itself?

Chris Philp, minister in charge of the Gambling Act Review, will speak at the 'Gambling Reform Rally' next month. Regulus Partners report claims that clandestine groups are lobbying for the final outcomes of a gambling review. The minister's decision to participate in the rally will deepen suspicion of partisanship in what was intended to be a balanced, evidence-based exercise. The Gabbling Commission and DCMS get to set the rules. By the time the Rally rolls around, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will have published its Delphi Study on ‘policies and interventions…to prevent and reduce gambling-related harm in England’

This week's OHID article suggests that the researchers did not understand the survey results supplied to them by NatCen. Online gambling has increased since 2012.

NHS/NatCen: Participation in most gambling activities declined between 2012 and 2018. Scratchcards, non-remote bingo, slot machines, FOBTs, poker, horserace betting, dog-race betting and private betting are among the activities that saw a decline. Remote gaming participation nudged down. Online sports betting saw an increase.

NHS/NatCen: The combined DSM-IV/PGSI rate of problem gambling has been stable since 2012. PGSI rates of PG SI ‘at risk’ gambling have reduced from 4.1% to 3.5%. Online gambling by “at-risk” gamblers was more than double that of the general population in 2018.

NHS/NatCen reports that 9.4% of the population gamble online. Professor Peter Collins wrote in 2009 that the last Gambling Act was attended to with greater attention to detail by parliamentarians. The current review is shaping up to be a legislative shambles. The article edited by SBC is from ‘Winning Post’ Sunday 20 February 2022. Click on the below logo to access the full unedited analysis of Winning Post. It is edited from Sunday, 20 Feb 2022 and is available to read here.