A letter from the UK Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee has been sent to the Labour Government asking them to reevaluate the country’s gambling-related harms regulatory frameworks, including areas covering advertising, prevention and treatment.
Addressed to Labour’s Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton MP, the letter also calls for another review of the Gambling Act to ensure the legislative framework gives “all agencies the power and responsibilities needed to deliver a total system response” to preventing gambling-related harm.
The letter was issued by the Health and Social Care Committee and signed by its Chair, Layla Moran MP, in response to the gambling-related harms evidence session held by the committee on 2 April, as well as a meeting between some of the committee’s members and the Gambling with Lives charity on 22 April.
Seven different topics were discussed in the letter: prevention, regulation and advertising; land-based gambling; research and data; treatment; monitoring implementation; suicide prevention and gambling-related deaths; and review of the Gambling Act.
Prevention and advertising
On the topic of prevention, regulation and advertising, the letter argued that not enough is being done to address the impact that gambling advertising can have, with the data point of “80% of the population being exposed to some form of gambling advertising” weekly being highlighted.
“We were particularly concerned to hear how intrusive and targeted some gambling promotion has become, including accounts of people receiving offers of free bets in the middle of the night,” the letter stated.
“Given this, it was unsurprising to hear that some individuals experiencing gambling-related harms say that it feels like ‘there is no escape’ from gambling.”
In response, the committee is calling for the Prevention Commissioner, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), to review the current regulation of gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship alongside the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) to identify interventions that can reduce visibility and accessibility of adverts.
The letter said: “Given the strong evidence we heard about the impact of advertising, we do not see how OHID can effectively develop a strategy to prevent gambling-related harms without considering the regulation of advertising and broader commercial practices of the sector.
“Regulation should reflect the fact that some forms of gambling are more harmful than others, taking a risk-based approach that subjects the most addictive and dangerous products to tighter control. This should happen alongside regulation that focuses on protecting vulnerable people.”
The committee said that areas that need to be reviewed include gambling advertising being limited before the watershed, rules on the content of adverts being improved so they don’t contain elements that appeal to children and young people, rules on gambling sponsorship of sports teams and events being strengthened, the frequency and kinds of promotions and incentives that can be sent to individuals being limited, and bringing the regulation approach of social media advertising in line with the broader approach to other forms of advertising.
The letter also calls for a public information campaign to educate the public on the possible risks associated with gambling, as well as dedicated communications for those who participate in gaming.
Research and treatment
Regarding land-based gambling, the letter welcomed the decision by the Government to pause regulation changes to the proportion of different machine types that gaming centres can have, but raised concerns on the concentration of gambling establishments in high deprivation areas and the challenges local authorities face with planning applications.
To tackle this, the letter calls for the department to lay out the support it will offer to local authorities, as well as make the Directors of Public Health a responsible authority for planning and licensing of gambling establishment applications.
For research and data, the committee welcomed the fact that it has been recognised that evidence on the most effective way to prevent gambling harms is incomplete and that an objective of the Research Commissioner, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is to conduct further research to fill gaps in the current evidence base.
The letter asks for improvements to the UKRI’s understanding of inequalities and health disparities concerning gambling-related harms to make sure research takes into account how different gambling activity types can impact vulnerable and high-risk groups.
Concerned about the data that gambling companies can collect about their players, the letter also calls for the department to work with the UK Gambling Commission to “mandate greater transparency in the data the gambling sector holds, including exploring the publication of anonymised or aggregate data, to support future research projects”.
As for treatment, the committee recommends that an announcement be made as soon as possible by the Government regarding who will be responsible for commissioning treatment.
This is in response to NHS England being abolished, which previously was the sole treatment commissioner for England. Specialist gambling treatment is currently commissioned by NHS England and GambleAware, with the latter commissioning services from the third sector.
The letter also calls for collaboration with the voluntary sector on how the new commissioner will work with third-sector providers of treatment services.
Regarding monitoring implementation, the committee welcomed the publication of the first National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidance on gambling-related harms, but asked how its implementation will be monitored and what training and support will be offered to medical professionals.
In addition, the letter asks the Levy Advisory Group to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of levy funds in tackling gambling-related harms and what gaps need to be addressed.
For suicide prevention and gambling-related deaths, the committee calls for guidance on how awareness will be raised on “gambling suicide amongst coroners and others involved in the investigation of sudden deaths, including what training will be provided”, in response to a meeting between the committee’s members and Gambling with Lives.
At the meeting, the charity argued that “most gambling deaths are not properly investigated in a way that provides justice for families or that learns the vital lessons which could save lives”, as there is a lack of awareness amongst coroners of the link between gambling and suicide as well as how problem gambling is rarely recorded in an individuals medicial notes.
The letter also asks “how the new public health and preventative approach to gambling-related harms will align with the Suicide Prevention Strategy action plan”, which identified gambling as one of six factors linked to suicide at a population level.
Concluding its letter, the committee has also requested another review of the Gambling Act to ensure the legislative framework gives “all agencies the power and responsibilities needed to deliver a total system response” to preventing gambling-related harm.
