‘Hypocrisy’ of the betting tycoons
Brothers earn millions from firm caring for addicts – as minister slams ‘vicious cycle’ of gambling
THE billionaire brothers who own BetFred were blasted for ‘hypocrisy’ by an NHS boss last night – after it was revealed that they were making millions from gambling addiction services paid for by taxpayers.
As well as their betting business that made £728million last year, Fred and Peter Done own a company that provides counselling to staff across the public sector.
Their firm Health Assured has contracts worth at least £2.5million with dozens of NHS Trusts and councils.
They advertise help for problems including gambling and depression.
The Done brothers have taken £5.2million in dividends from the business in the past three years, the Guardian reported.
Health Assured is run as an entirely separate business to BetFred, but they are both ultimately owned by the Done brothers. NHS mental health chief Claire Murdoch yesterday accused them of ‘hypocrisy and tokenism’.
Labour MP Angela Eagle said it was an ‘awful conflict of interest’ and that gambling firms should be ‘ nowhere near our health services’.
A Health Assured spokesman said: ‘All public sector contracts we have been awarded have thorough due diligence carried out before they are issued.’
The row came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday backed demands for betting firms to immediately end ‘shameful’ incentives that lure punters into a ‘vicious cycle’. Throwing down the gauntlet to bookies, he urged them to scrap aggressive tactics that are fuelling a mental health crisis.
Mr Hancock said it was ‘ absolutely right’ of the NHS to warn that taxpayers could no longer pick up the pieces of lives wrecked by gambling. He backed calls for a ban on ‘bet-to-view’ sports, pervasive advertising, free bets and VIP experiences for big spenders.
The NHS has warned ‘the clock is ticking’, with more lives destroyed every day the firms fail to act.
On Wednesday, Mrs Murdoch wrote to all major gambling companies saying the health service should no longer be expected to ‘put out the fires’ they start.
Gambling addiction costs the NHS up to £700million a year. The health service recently opened 14 problem gambling clinics as part of a £2.3billion investment in mental health. Mrs Murdoch is calling for an end to cashback incentives and VIP deals that see high-loss customers lavished with perks.
She also wants an immediate end to aggressive advertising, credit card betting and bet-to-view live streaming of sport. The practices have all been exposed by the Daily Mail’s Stop The Gambling Predators campaign.
Mr Hancock backed Mrs Murdoch’s demands, stating: ‘There are three actions that we’ve asked them to take, all set out very clearly. Gambling-related harm is a growing priority of the NHS.
‘Betting companies need to do more to prioritise the mental health impact of problem gamblers. I strongly support the work that Claire Murdoch is doing to insist that betting companies do what is necessary.’ Last week the Mail exposed how FA Cup games are streamed live on betting sites to any fan with an account as part of a £750m deal.
Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan yesterday urged the FA to scrap its ‘extraordinary’ six-year deal.
Ministers are reviewing the 2005 Gambling Act and are widely expected to tighten the rules governing how bookmakers operate.
But campaigners say that betting firms should not wait for legislation and must ‘do the right thing’ now with voluntary regulation. Last night Mrs Murdoch told the Mail: ‘The clock continues to tick for gambling firms to act. Every day they fail to do the right thing, more people’s lives will continue to be tragically wrecked by this appalling addiction.’
Sports minister Nigel Adams announced that the betting sites will no longer have exclusive rights for the rest of this season’s competition. On Tuesday the Gambling Commission, the industry regulator, announced that punters will be banned from using credit cards to place bets online and in shops from April 14.
But the NHS said betting firms must implement the ban now to prevent more Britons being sucked into debt.
Brigid Simmonds, chairman of the Betting and Gaming Council, which represents bookmakers, said: ‘We are taking action on all of the points the NHS has made. We care about vulnerable people and people with mental illness.’
■ The Church of England yesterday launched a Lords Private Members’ Bill to call for coroners to record if a suicide victim was a gambling addict.
The change would ‘shock policymakers from their complacency’, said the Bishop of St Albans, the Right Reverend Alan Smith.