Relaxed gaming laws 'will cause extensive damage within 20 years'

GAMBLING is likely to become one of Britain’s most serious addictions by
2026 because of relaxed gaming laws and new betting technology, the
Government has been told.

A report for the Department of Trade and Industry says that the
Government has not paid enough attention to what long-term effect its
new gaming laws will have on the public.

Britain’s laws, it says, will have problems keeping pace with
technological advancements in gaming, including internet gambling,
spreadbetting, fixed-odds betting terminals and betting via mobile phone
and television.

These new forms of gaming suggest that gambling is likely to become a
widespread and damaging problem in the next 20 years. Of particular
concern is spread-sheet betting, which, the report says, can leave
gamblers with huge losses.

Jim Orford, the report’s author, told The Times that all the evidence
suggested that the greater the availability, the greater problems would
be.

However, he said that the problems associated with excessive gambling
would be concealed for some time, but that in years to come people would
start asking how it had happened.

"The problems are not suddenly going to be in the headlines. The effects
on families, in particular, do not get much publicity," he said. "The
Government, strongly pressured by the gaming industry, has gone for a
major liberation of gaming and everybody I have spoken to thinks that
will increase the number of problem gamblers."

He said that the Government had not seriously thought about the health
implications of relaxing Britain’s traditionally restrictive gambling
laws.

"I don’t think they (ministers) gave sufficient attention to the public
health aspects of problem gambling, nor did they pay much attention to
whether the public really wanted this relaxation," he said.

Professor Orford, who teaches clinical and community psychology at the
University of Birmingham, had been asked by the DTI to look at the
long-term effects of gambling. He carried out his study while Parliament
was passing the Gambling Act 2005, which lets casino operators expand
their business and set up resort casinos, to make it easier to visit a
casino.

Professor Orford’s report says that the law has encouraged new forms of
gambling and ways of accessing gambling that are likely to increase the
risk of addiction.

"These include casino resorts, gambling machines with unlimited stakes
and prizes, and British internet gambling sites," the report says.

"They add to developments such as internet gambling and spread betting,
as well as the numer- ous new variations of gambling, such as bingo and
casino table games, which are likely to increase their addiction
liability."

The report says that gaming machines in public houses and gambling on
personal com-puters would help to make gambling part of the national way
of life.

Internet gambling is expected to grow rapidly and the report gives a
warning of the possibility of legalised gambling through mobile phones
and digital television.

It also highlights the danger involved in spread-betting, which allows
participants to bet on the financial market and the outcome of sporting
events. "The unique quality - and risk - in spread-betting lies in the
fact that the potential losses can be far greater than the amount of
money staked," the report says.

Professor Orford said that Britain had a reputation for having a highly
regulated gaming industry but that gambling was now being portrayed as
part of the mainstream leisure industry.

The change was signalled when responsibility for the industry was moved
from the Home Office, where it was seen as a potential danger, to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Professor Orford said that gambling was not just an ordinary leisure
activity and that great care had to be taken with the effect that a
relaxation of gambling laws would have.

"I think that almost certainly it will lead to more gambling, more
people gambling, more and more kinds of different gambling on the
internet and regional casinos," he said.

"All the evidence suggests and supports the view that when facilities
increase, problems increase. That is what has happened with the greater
availability of drugs and alcohol."

RISKY BUSINESS

* Fixed odds betting terminals: touch-screen terminals in betting shops
offer games such as roulette with maximum prizes of £500
* Spread betting: betting on movement in financial markets or the
outcome of sporting events
* Internet gambling: placing bets via the internet and playing "virtual"
games operated solely on the net
* The estimated annual turnover on gambling activities is £53 billion
* There are 140 casinos in Britain, 670 bingo clubs, 250,000 gaming
machines and 8,000 betting shops
* In 2004-05 2 per cent of the population had gambled online
* The Gambling Act will allow 17 new casinos
* It is predicted that the reforms could create up to 750,000 problem
gamblers

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  immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's
  understanding without guidance from another. This
  immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in
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  courage to use it without guidance from another.
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