Tom Watson, the Deputy leader of the Labour Party has called for an outright ban on gambling ads during live sports to tackle problem gambling. The party has also said that they would put a stop to being able to bet with credit cards and introduce some kind of levy on gambling operators, which would then help for treatment…
…In a study carried out by the Labour Party, it found that there were 430,000 known gambling addicts in the UK and 25,000 of these were under the age of 16. Mr Watson described the problem as ‘a public health emergency,’ but the Conservatives have criticised them to ‘liberalising the gambling market when it was in power.’
A ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban on gambling adverts will be imposed, because experts who deal with gambling addiction have highlighted these ads as a particular problem. Speaking to the BBC’s Today Programme, Tom Watson expressed; "We're not anti-gambling. We just think we need to tighten up regulations because there has been a digital revolution in these new products since the last piece of legislation. Even the industry are saying that TV advertising for in-sport betting is getting out of hand and needs dealing with. Gambling companies have to take more responsibility for harm caused by their products and contribute more to research and treatment."
What’s New?
In the proposed plans outlined, the levy would amount to 1% of the gambling operators’ gross gambling yield, which would replace the voluntary one that is in place now. A compulsory charge would bring in £140m a year, compared to just £10m as it now stands. Also, new rules would also allow players who have a gambling problem, to authorise their banks to block gambling transactions.
Richard Flint, the Sky Bet boss welcomed the news of a levy, but thinks banning ads and credit cards won’t help…
"We'll study the advertising proposals carefully but think any type of blanket ban removes a key incentive for operators to get a UK gambling licence and therefore could leave UK customers more vulnerable to disreputable operators. And our data on credit cards suggests that it is those customers with multiple cards that are at greater risk of harm so we believe attention should be placed on that rather than a complete ban.
