Labor’s manifest commitment to “work with the industry on how to ensure responsible gambling” indicates a lack of commitment to the facts of gambling harm and how it can be prevented. It is the gambling industry and policy failures that need to be addressed to keep people safe. For decades the industry has demonstrated its unwillingness to protect customers from harm, but also its inability to do so, as evidenced by the huge fines paid to the Gaming Commission for violations of its own ‘light touch’ – codes.
Gambling business models require them to use sophisticated marketing strategies to extract maximum profit from each user of their products. That’s fine if you’re into umbrellas or socks, but gambling is different: it can destroy lives, families and communities. We know that the industry’s products are harmful, even with little use, and are designed to be addictive. All of these facts were recognized years ago, when experts suggested that the way forward was to frame gambling as a public health problem, reject the concepts of “responsible gambling” and “problem gamblers,” and reform the law so that regulations give priority to preventing risks. harm, rather than ‘permitting’ gambling as the law now requires.
Preventing harm should be the priority, not providing funding for treatment afterwards. The partners in this effort must be the healthcare community, not the industry or those dependent on its funding. Reviving “responsible gambling” and presenting the industry as a legitimate partner in responding to the public health problems it causes is contrary to the evidence and contrary to Labour’s commitment to promoting health and equality.
Professor Rebecca Cassidy Goldsmiths, University of London, Dr. May van Schalkwyk Honorary researcher, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine