Gambling free for all must be curbed
... says Labour peer who changed law to allow it
THE Labour minister who was blamed for the huge rise of ‘crack cocaine’ gambling machines now wants a clampdown on the industry.
Tessa Jowell brought in controversial reforms as culture secretary in 2005 that led to the proliferation of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which allow users to wage £100 a time.
But yesterday she urged the Government to beef up regulation to tackle the ‘outbreak of betting shops’, in order to protect young people. She also admitted that following the explosion in online gambling, the industry now has ‘no borders’, with the young able to gamble on smartphones in their bedrooms.
The politician, now a Labour peer, called for curbs on the number of betting machines.
Her demand will be seen as hypocritical given it was under her watch that FOBTs proliferated. One campaigner said it came too late to help the thousands whose lives have been ‘destroyed’ by the machines.
Ministers are now considering dramatically cutting the maximum £100 stake. FOBTs were introduced in 2001 and the 2005 Gambling Act included laws designed to regulate them.
Yesterday in the Lords, Baroness Jowell insisted the Act gave the UK ‘one of the most highly regulated gambling regimes in the world’. But she warned of the rise of online gambling and called for ministers to increase regulation of betting shops, including restricting the number of machines and tightening planning rules to make it harder for bookies to open.
Culture minister Lord Ashton replied that controls on websites were brought in three years ago and that the Gambling Commission continuously monitors the industry. He also said age verifi- cation was working well. Adrian Parkinson, of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said: ‘FOBTs should never have been allowed and Tessa Jowell’s comments today confirm this – but unfortunately too late for thousands of people whose lives have been destroyed by these machines.’
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, said a survey by the Commission found nearly one in ten 11 to 16-year-olds were ‘ engaged in gambling- style games usually on a smartphone’.
He warned the ‘prevalence of this would seem to normalise this behaviour’ and could lead to serious problems later if exposure to adverts and games was not limited. Lord Ashton said he shared his concerns but insisted strict controls on advertising were already in place.
Baroness Jowell admitted last year her reforms had unwittingly led to the rise of FOBTs.
She said she had always made it clear the machines were ‘on probation’ and should be removed if evidence showed they were harmful. But she admitted the 2005 Act, which gave the Gambling Commission the power to step in, had not worked.