Watchdog for betting ‘slow and toothless’

VULNERABLE gamblers are being failed by a toothless, weak and behind-the-times industry regulator, a scathing report has warned.

The Gambling Commission was slammed as inflexible, slow to react to issues and constrained by outdated rules in a damning assessment by the Commons public accounts committee.

Penalties for companies not tackling problem gambling were weak and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had been complacent in ensuring effective regulation, it concluded.

Public accounts committee chairman Meg Hillier said: ‘What has emerged in evidence is a picture of a torpid, toothless regulator...

‘The commission needs a radical overhaul.’

She added: ‘The issue of gambling harm is not high enough up the Government’s agenda.’

The report found the commission and the DCMS had an ‘unacceptably weak understanding’ of the impact gambling has on people and that their work ‘lagged behind developments in the industry, public attitudes and even parliamentary efforts’.

There are an estimated 395,000 problem gamblers in the UK, with a further 1.8million considered ‘at risk’. The fallout from gambling addiction can have a widespread and devastating impact, the report warned.

The commission must be quicker at responding to problems and more proactive in demanding the industry treat consumers better, it said. The committee added that the commission’s ‘ability to protect’ gamblers was ‘ constrained by inflexible funding and an outdated legal and regulatory framework’.

The Daily Mail’s Stop the Gambling Predators campaign continues to call for greater protection for addicts and has repeatedly highlighted failings within the highly profitable industry.