RGA: Government must use our taxes to tackle problem gambling
Industry body says not enough of collected gambling taxes are being allocated to problem, which new report says costs UK exchequer up to £1.2bn a year
The UK Government has been urged to use more of the £2.6bn it collected in gambling taxes last year to tackle gambling addiction, a problem which a GambleAware-commissioned report today says costs the exchequer as much as £1.2bn a year.
The budgeting advice came from online industry body the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), which said the Government needed to reinvest a larger percentage of the billions it collects in taxes from the industry into combating the problem.
The RGA, which represents the likes of Sky Betting & Gaming, Ladbrokes Coral and bet365, also pointed out the industry was a net contributor to British society.
“It is perhaps unfortunate that the report only highlights one side of the equation by solely addressing the costs to Government of problem gambling which it puts in a range of £260m and £1.2bn per year,” RGA chief executive Clive Hawkswood said.
“However, in gambling taxation alone we know that the Government raised over £2.6bn in 2015-16, so at a time when there is increasing demand for the industry to do more and contribute more to GambleAware, it is right to call on the Government itself to put more resources into combating problem gambling by recognising it as a public health issue and acting accordingly.”
William Hill, meanwhile, called for more balanced reporting of the industry and highlighted that operators funded a variety of problem gambling help services, including counselling and residential services.
“We also spend millions on warning people of the risks of gambling,” a Hills spokesperson told EGR Intel.
“For a balanced view these potential negatives need to be set against the positive impact of a licensed, regulated business which replaced the illegal sector that existed prior to 1961.
“This includes the enjoyment of betting safely that millions of people experience each year and the significant employment and tax receipts that the industry generates. Betting shops provide a social hub for people, in many cases the elderly, who enjoy their regular shop visit as part of their leisure time.”
The study, released this morning by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), claimed problem gamblers cost the UK between £260m and £1.2bn a year.
The report, commissioned by GambleAware, said around half of the cost comes hospital inpatient services (£140m–£610m), while “incarcerations” cost between £40m and £190m.
The report also tallies JSA claimant costs and lost labour tax receipts and secondary mental health services. There was no estimate given for online gamblers alone.
“For many, problem gambling is a hidden addiction,” said Craig Thorley, research fellow, from IPPR.
“This should be a wakeup call to Government. We need a proper strategy to deal with this issue, just like we’ve had for other public health issues such as alcoholism.”
UK-facing operators are currently working on a nationwide solution to problem gambling in the form of the national multi-operator self-exclusion scheme (NOSES), which will let customers block themselves from all British-licensed gambling sites at once.