Perhaps the greatest joy of my role as your local Member of Parliament is being able to help so many people solve problems and overcome obstacles. Each week this involves taking up an extraordinary range of cases, both here in Lincolnshire and in Parliament. As my work often means hearing some very sad stories, I am reminded that much more must be done for those who face life-changing challenges.
In this vein, having been contacted by a concerned constituent, I was briefed by charity helping families dealing with the loss of loved ones addicted to gambling.
The charity – Gambling with Lives – does vital work to raise awareness and support families following the devastating effects of gambling addiction. Figures from the Gambling Commission suggest that as many as 1.3 million people in this country suffer from gambling problems, which range from borrowing money they can’t afford to repay, to selling possessions, bringing acute financial hardship. This was one of the many reasons I opposed Merkur Slots’ arrival in Spalding.
Sadly, sometimes this has even more severe consequences. At the event, I met the father of a man whose son – a promising young man – after desperately accruing debts which he couldn’t hope to pay back, took his own life. The charity estimates that there are hundreds of such gambling related suicides in the UK each year. Coroners should properly assess the role of problem gambling on mental health and wellbeing to prevent avoidable tragedies.
Gambling has changed enormously over my lifetime. In my youth, it was common for an interest in national hunt or flat racing to prompt ‘a flutter on the horses’ and for football fans to ‘do the pools’, which was my father’s weekly recreation. Over the years since, though much responsible gambling remains, we have seen a shift from largely harmless wagers to pernicious online addictions.
Enabled by greedy corporations which take little responsibility for customers, today in the digital age internet based betting has made taking huge risks all too easy. Television adverts imploring punters to chance ever more are ubiquitous, while smartphones make the dangers all the more accessible, with personal data used to target people already hooked. For those trapped in a downwards spiral, banks willing to fund the habit worsen the problem. For many this becomes anything but a cheap thrill.
The value of gambling in Great Britain is over £15 billion, and the head of Ladbrokes told a Parliamentary committee that “99% of our customers will lose”. Given the harm from the pace and scale of online risk taking encouraged by gambling firms, they should do more to help people who suffer the consequences.
The Government is looking to levy tougher fines on gambling operators which fail to protect people. Such a levy could bring in £100 million a year to fund treatment to rescue gambling addicts. Which is why, inspired by my meeting with the brave father of the addict who took his life, I have asked questions in Parliament about what more can be done.
Though adults should be permitted to make their own choices about the lives they lead, society cannot, and should not, turn its back on people made vulnerable and then exploited. Banks and giant gambling firms, which knowingly feed habits which destroy lives, must be made to pay.
