Last year at the age of just 19, a young man took his own life.
He was addicted to gambling. Despite efforts to escape he received 63 promotional emails in the two months before his death. Every day he received an offer relentlessly encouraging him to gamble from just a single operator.
He could not avoid being drawn back in, and his relapse into gambling tragically led to suicide.
This is an all-too-common story in the UK. In 2023, gambling was cited as one of the six main factors linked to suicide, with 400 people losing their lives to gambling-related suicide each year.
Last month, I had the moving experience of meeting some of the families who have lost their children to such suicides. Their stories underscore the urgent need for further measures to address an industry out of control.
We are now experiencing record levels of harm caused by gambling. The Gambling Commission shows that the scale of the harm in the UK is huge, with 2.5% of adults experiencing the most severe gambling harms.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists have seen a threefold increase of those referred for gambling treatment since people moved online during the pandemic.
And the Gordon Moody charity tell me they have seen an increase in referrals especially amongst younger people. Last year they received 12,000 applications for their 6-week residential gambling treatment programme.
This clear spike in gambling harm goes hand in hand with the increase in online gambling. As people turned to online gambling during the pandemic, they were often engaging in the most harmful form of gambling.
Children and young people are particularly at risk. Children are being targeted with gambling adverts on social media or while playing mobile phone games. Such adverts are designed to prime children to gamble as soon as they are able.
You cannot now watch a football match without being bombarded by gambling adverts. During the Premier League opening weekend there were 29,000 gambling messages – more than double the year before.
The industry is investing in relentless messaging and now spends £1.5 billion a year on advertising in the UK.
There is ample evidence that this advertising and marketing increases the use of the most harmful forms of gambling. VIP schemes, bonuses and free spins encourage people to gamble on the industry’s most profitable and addictive online casinos.
Advertising, marketing and the exposure to gambling cues are also the number one issue for patients who access NHS Gambling services. 87% of people with a gambling disorder said that marketing and advertising prompted them to gamble when they otherwise wouldn’t.
The Netherlands, Italy and Spain have almost full bans on gambling advertising and sponsorship. The Government should be looking closely at restricting these messages – especially the many that reach children.
The legislation in the UK is now out of date. The last time primary gambling legislation was put forward was with the Gambling Act in 2005. This Act was delivered before the rise of online gambling and before smartphones existed.
There has been progress, with a Statutory Levy introduced by the Government last month – which will generate £100 million from gambling operators to fund research, prevention, and treatment of gambling harms. This is an important step in ensuring the industry begins to pay for the harm it causes.
But while the changes to the Levy are welcome, we still lack clarity on how the money raised will be spent on preventing harmful gambling. We cannot expect people to access services commissioned by the industry that has harmed or exploited them.
The introduction of the Statutory Levy is a good first step, but it is just that, a first step.
If we are to protect those addicted to gambling, as well as our younger generations, stronger measures need to be taken.
We need stronger affordability checks – there is a reason bookmakers are concentrated in more deprived areas. It is often those with the least who are targeted and subject to the worst gambling harms.
There needs to be an independent Gambling Ombudsman to provide redress where a customer suffers harm due to an operator’s failure.
And there must be greater restrictions on gambling advertising, sponsorship, and inducements. We need to stop the practices that encourage children to gamble and create unavoidable risks for the adults who are already suffering.
Many of these changes can be addressed by reviewing legislation in view of the huge technological developments over the last two decades. This would allow the Government to follow through on our manifesto commitment to reduce Gambling Harm.
The harms from online gambling have accelerated since Covid and it is vital that the Government acts quickly to protect citizens.
We must act quickly to protect citizens from the harms of online gambling
