Empowering local councils to tackle gambling addiction

This article from Brent Council, England, highlights the growing crisis of gambling addiction in Britain, with local governments struggling to manage the proliferation of gambling premises. Using their own local experience, it underscores public health concerns, rising crime rates, and the need for reform of the Gambling Act 2005 to better protect vulnerable communities.

If central government is the body entrusted to preserve the health and condition of the nation, it is local government that is left to deliver it. And while Whitehall rightly centres on how to rebuild a broken NHS, one malady has long been left untreated. One which local councils find themselves without sufficient power to tackle.

The Health Survey for England 2021, published in May 2023, found that 50% of adults participated in gambling within the last year. Of those, Public Health England estimates that there is one gambling-related suicide every day. The impacts of harmful and excessive gambling have long been well-documented, linking to a range of social and public health issues including suicidality, depression, anxiety, and financial ruin. The problem is rising, too, among children, with new figures from the Gambling Commission revealing a shocking 85,000 children classified as having a gambling problem. It’s no surprise that these social and public health issues are often exacerbated in areas with high numbers of gambling premises.

A study by our neighbours in Ealing Council also outlined the increase in crime and disorder associated with the saturation of gambling premises:

“As well as reported crime in betting premises being much higher than the controls, there was a clear and statistically significant increase in crime in the vicinity of betting shops, with the greatest correlations at the closest distances from the premises”.

Britain is desperately lagging behind our European counterparts on measures to restrict harmful gambling, especially when it comes to advertising. While restrictions on ads by bookmakers and casinos are increasingly becoming the norm across Europe in response to public health concerns, the issue was left out of a white paper on gambling regulation published by the previous government in 2023. Last year, Belgium announced a total ban on gambling advertising, while we and our children are too often exposed to flashy television adverts, Premier League football club strips emblazoned with logos, and an increasing saturation of online ads breaking up our social media feeds. We’re taking much-needed action on tackling junk food advertising, but there’s a case to be made here, too.

Organisations like Clean Up Gambling and Gambling With Lives have long been flying the flag for urgent and effective reform, giving a voice to those struggling with addiction and the lives and relationships it takes along the way. But as bookies become a thing of the past, and when you’re raising the stakes at the tap of a phone screen, we can no longer rely on the third sector alone to make the case for a factory reset on Britain’s relationship with gambling.

The picture in Brent

In Harlesden, six gambling premises exist within a mere 600-metre stretch. With yet another application submitted in recent weeks, it was a shameful reality check when Harlesden was dubbed the ‘Las Vegas of Britain’ in a national newspaper last year. Just a stone’s throw away from Harlesden High Street is a homeless shelter, and the area itself is one which faces a variety of economic, public health, and community safety challenges. As the gravity of health inequalities in the borough emerged back in 2020, our Brent Poverty Commission sought to right these wrongs; and to make practical, evidence-based recommendations on how to reduce poverty in our communities. But it also confirmed our fears that nearby Church End was adversely impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic, owing to housing pressures, in-work poverty, and racial inequalities. Throwing a proliferation of gambling premises into the mix was always going to be a recipe for disaster.

While we’re taking all the steps we can, there’s still more to be done – but it requires partnership working. Our Harlesden and Kensal Green councillors will be making the case for empowering local government at an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform this month, building on the unanimous motion recently passed by Brent Council, supported by the three parties represented in the borough, on tackling gambling harms in our community. This is a growing issue for us in Brent, with an increase in the clustering of gambling premises across the borough generally, and in Harlesden in particular. Be in no doubt – all councillors in Brent are united in our desire to reform the Gambling Act 2005, to ensure it is fit for purpose in protecting our most vulnerable residents.

But despite this shared opposition amongst residents, law enforcement, and councillors alike, local authorities have found themselves effectively powerless to intervene. The current statutory ‘Aim to Permit’ policy – which is a legal requirement for licensing authorities to regulate gambling in a way that seeks to permit it, rather than prevent it – severely limits our ability to prevent the opening of additional gambling venues, even when the community is unequivocally against it. This policy has left local authorities grappling with outdated and inadequate legislation that fails to protect vulnerable residents from the harms associated with gambling.

Residents and councils cannot object on a moral ground against gambling, nor can they prevent the proliferation of gambling dens in close proximity to schools like we can for junk food establishments. We’re increasingly bound by a legislative agenda which does not have the best interests of our communities at heart.

The case for reform

Empowering communities to take back control over their own destinies was a founding principle of this year’s Labour Party manifesto. From rebuilding our public services to putting more neighbourhood police on the street and resolving the crippling housing crisis, restoring faith in the ability of politics to do good is why we’re all here. And it’s our end of this relationship to identify where local government would be best placed to further these ambitions. By revitalising our high streets and wrapping an arm around the most vulnerable – this is a space where we can do just that.

That’s why we’re asking for urgent action on six steps to reform and renew the Gambling Act:

1. Reform the ‘Aim to Permit’ Policy: Grant local authorities the power to reject premise license applications that threaten the community’s welfare and safety.
2. Categorisation of Gambling Premises: Ensure that any incoming planning framework stipulates that Bingo Halls and Adult Gaming Centres be placed in the same planning category as bookmakers, so they cannot bypass caps by splitting premises.
3. Planning Applications: Allow councils to consider local household debt levels when evaluating planning applications for high street casinos and prevent the proliferation of gambling dens in close proximity to schools, in the same way councils can limit junk food establishments in these areas.
4. Statutory Levy for Gambling Harm Prevention: Introduce a statutory levy on gambling operators for research, education, and treatment, initially set at 1% of gross revenue, to be administered by an independent public body.
5. Ban on Gambling Advertising: Prohibit gambling advertising, promotion, and sponsorship to prevent exposure, especially to children and young people.
6. Stop Progress on Proposals to Liberalise Adult Gaming Centres: Following the Gambling Survey for Great Britain which underlines the need for a review of spin speed and excess staking levels on harmful B3 machines.

We were incredibly encouraged by the announcement trailed by the government last month that gambling operators will soon be asked to pay a statutory levy for research, education, and treatment of gambling harms. This is a bold first step by a government serious about tackling the issues at hand. But it is just the first step on a long-neglected path to holistically tackling the public health issues our country faces. From tackling the loneliness epidemic to cutting the red-tape councils like Brent are battling through every day, now is the time to place trust back in the hands of local government. It’s been a long and difficult fourteen years of neglect, but we stand steadfast, ready to breathe life back into our communities and put their health at the heart of a rebuilt nation.