Govt urged to tackle gambling ads to protect ‘millions from harm’

Great Britain is “falling behind” other European countries in tackling betting ads, GambleAware has warned.

‘Drivers of Gambling Marketing Restrictions – An International Comparison’, a report commissioned by the charity, compared Great Britain’s self-regulated gambling industry with several European countries such as Spain and Italy.

The report concluded that although Britain has the “most evidence of the negative effects of gambling marketing”, it remains a “significant outlier” in introducing wider restrictions.

Kids

The research found that a common occurrence in European countries was the “liberalisation of gambling markets, followed by an increase in participation and marketing, and, therefore, the number of people harmed by gambling”.

In response, several Governments introduced legislation to restrict marketing on the basis that gambling was causing harm and becoming “normalised for children and young people”.

But in contrast, the previous Government’s White Paper on reforming the Gambling Act 2005 claimed there was “a lack of conclusive evidence” and did not directly address the issue.

‘No political will’

Dr Raffaello Rossi, who was one of the report’s authors, said the situation in Britain “suggests that the lack of tight restrictions isn’t due to insufficient evidence but rather a lack of political will.

“Across Europe, bans on gambling marketing are increasingly the norm, seen as necessary to protect the public. Great Britain, however, is becoming an outlier with almost no meaningful restrictions.

“The evidence is clear – policymakers must act urgently to protect millions from preventable harm.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport stated that it is “committed to strengthening protections for those at risk”, and ministers are “considering the full range of gambling policy and will update in due course”.

Football ads

Earlier this month, more than 125,000 people called on Sir Keir Starmer to kick gambling adverts out of football.

The Big Step campaign, which organised the petition, highlighted that 29,000 gambling adverts were displayed during the Premier League’s opening weekend in August – almost triple the previous year’s 11,000.

Attending a march associated with the petition were those in recovery from gambling addiction, and others who have lost family members to gambling-related suicide.