The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has called for increased action by local authorities to prevent and address gambling harm.
As part of a wider, more intensive approach to gambling, the SMF has urged local councils to deepen their work with health, voluntary, housing, debt advice, social care, and community services, areas that are all impacted by gambling harms.
Furthermore, an emphasis was placed on more effective gambling harm treatment by improving the frontline staff training.
There was a varying performance from local councils according to the SMF, with the best-performing councils being those that embed it into a wider strategy.
Central to the calls is the ending of silos, to ensure that data is shared where possible to provide the best support between councils, the NHS and the third sector.
They also highlighted the potential positive impact of a national gambling database, urging its creation to gather data from all Integrated Care Boards on the current state of gambling harms and to monitor treatment pathways.
It marks the continued vocal approach of the Think Tank, as the UK prepares for a new premiership under potential Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Calls for the strengthening of the powers of local authorities to tackle gambling aren’t isolated to the latest SMF lobbying.
Burnham’s political strategy could indicate that a localisation of powers will be given to local councils, that there are legs in the proposals of the SMF, and we could see a strengthening of local powers in terms of safer gambling support.
His initial speech laid out how he aims to devolve powers away from Westminster and implement a Number 10 in the North. The former Manchester Mayor is seemingly not going to shy away from the radical.
The industry should be well aware of the impact that lobbying from SMF can have on UK policy, as operators are beginning to feel the impact of last Autumn’s budget, which included landmark tax hikes on the sector.
Although the briefcase of Rachel Reeves delivered what many believed to be disastrous news for the industry last year, the retail sector was largely shielded from tax hikes, in an apparent effort to avoid shop closures and job losses.
The SMF underpinned that Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) should be placed back under the microscope of regulatory examination.
It follows the recent SMF proposal that targets Category B slot machines – the higher-stakes machines found in betting shops, arcades and bingo halls – distinct from the lower-stakes machines found in pubs.
SMF modelling has stated that problem gambling associated with all types of slot machine use has a total economic cost of £2.33bn a year, using data from the Gambling Commission and Office for Health Improvement & Disparities.
The group has stated that it has applied the same logic used to raise the taxation rates for the online sector to the retail sector.
It’s a move that would have a significant impact on the wider gambling industry, specifically on the smaller land-based operators.
But Burnham’s expected coronation as Prime Minister means the industry should be vigilant of any looming opportunities to make the climate for regulated gambling tougher, especially if it’s through tax hikes backed by the SMF.
Burnham is not a new adversary for the retail gambling sector either – he was a key part of the pressure last year that began to build on UK gambling over the prevalence of high street gambling venues. He united with 38 councils in writing to the government, urging for an increase in powers to halt the opening of gambling venues on the high street.
