gambling harms special

Despite long awaited reforms, the laws that regulate gambling in this country remain wildly out of date. As part of our solutions journalism coverage of health inequalities, we took a look at responses to prevent gambling harms, taking a public health approach.

“Gambling affects the individual, but actually the cause of the problem is the environment that they live in and the fact that these gambling products are inherently harmful,” gambling addiction expert, Professor Gerda Reith told Greater Govanhill. “And when you look at it that way, instead of just treating the individual, it’s about making the product either safer or making it harder to access… and that’s the public health part.”

The British Medical Association states that: “Gambling addiction is a public health menace and needs to be taken as seriously as drugs and alcohol.” Likewise the World Health Organisation considers gambling harms to be of a similar magnitude to both alcohol misuse and major depressive episodes.

Yet in Scotland, there are currently no government policies that directly address gambling harms. This falls mainly within the remit of the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport who are due to publish its much-delayed proposed reforms to gambling

By Becki Menzies

laws in May, reviewing the Gambling Act of 2005. Since this act was brought in, the rise of online gambling has meant that the gambling landscape has changed dramatically and the current regulation is not working.

Speaking about the proposals, Adrian Bailey from The Machine Zone CIC concurred with call for changes: “ The agreed demands are: a compulsory one percent levy on industry profits to replace voluntary contributions for research, education and treatment, this to be ringfenced and source completely independent work; a ban on advertising, marketing and sponsorship in sports; a ban on gambling products which are designed to be addictive.”

Whilst regulating the gambling industry is largely reserved by Westminster, adopting a public health approach to gambling, similar to alcohol and tobacco, is something that could be done by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre recently published a briefing on gambling harms and public health recognising that: “Gambling harms affect families, communities and society, as well people who gamble, including people not classed as having a gambling problem” and that “some people in Scotland are at greater risk of gambling harms.”

The Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, Maree Todd MSP has previously stated: “We share the concerns that many have expressed around the impact of gambling-related harms in Scotland… We agree with the view of our stakeholders that a public health approach is needed to tackle those harms and improve treatment services.”

So, what could public health legislation on gambling look like?

The introduction of New Zealand’s Gambling Act (2003) made it the first country with a legislated national public health approach to gambling. The act is designed to