NI Assembly urged to tackle online gambling with statutory levy

Stormont has been urged to introduce a statutory levy to address the societal damage caused by online gambling.

Speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly, TUV MLA Timothy Gaston argued that the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 could only be used to require firms with physical premises to fund projects on gambling addiction, not online companies.

In Great Britain, all firms who hold a Gambling Commission licence, including websites, are set to pay a compulsory fee ranging from 0.1 per cent to 1.1 per cent of its Gross Gambling Yield or the equivalent. The levy, which was previously voluntary, is now expected to generate £100 million, half of which will go directly to the NHS.

‘Major problem’

The MLA called for the Province to use the 2022 Act to establish a gambling levy, while introducing separate legislation to apply it to online gambling so those in Northern Ireland “are not disadvantaged compared with those in GB”.

He noted that the 2016 Northern Ireland Gambling Prevalence Survey found that its “gambling harm rates were five times higher than those of England. We have to assume that the situation has since deteriorated here, as it has in England”.

Gaston explained that “the problem prevalence figures associated with online gambling are significantly higher than those pertaining to terrestrial gambling, and the gross gambling yield figures demonstrate that more than half of the gross gambling yield comes from online gambling”.

Wales

In December, the Senedd was urged to investigate the “human cost” of gambling addiction in Wales.

Jane Dodds, who is the Chair of the Cross Party Group on Gambling Related Harm, warned the Health and Social Care Committee that almost 20 per cent of gambling premises are concentrated in the country’s most deprived areas. And unlike England, there are no dedicated NHS gambling clinics in Wales.

In a letter to Committee Chair Russell George MS, she called for an inquiry into the “deeply concerning picture” of betting’s impact on public health services, especially in light of the UK Government’s recent measures to tackle the damage.