Labour’s manifesto commitment to “work with the industry on how to ensure responsible gambling” signals a lack of engagement with the facts of gambling harm and how it can be prevented. It is the gambling industry and policy failures that must be addressed to keep people safe. For decades the industry has demonstrated that it is disinclined to as well as incapable of protecting customers from harm, as evidenced by huge fines paid to the Gambling Commission for breaches of its own “light touch” codes.

Gambling business models demand that they use sophisticated marketing strategies to extract maximum profit from every user of their products. Fine if your business is umbrellas or socks, but gambling is different – it can destroy lives, families and communities. We know the industry’s products are harmful, even at low levels of use, and designed to be addictive. All of these facts were recognised years ago, when experts suggested that the way forward was to frame gambling as a public health issue, reject the concepts of “responsible gambling” and “problem gamblers”, and reform the law so that regulation prioritises prevention of harm, rather than “aiming to permit” gambling as the law now requires.

Preventing harm should be the priority, not providing funding for treatment afterwards. The partners in this endeavour should be the health community, not the industry or those dependent on its funding. Reviving “responsible gambling”, and presenting the industry as a legitimate partner in responding to the public health issues it causes, is contrary to the evidence, and conflicts with Labour’s commitment to promoting health and equity.
Prof Rebecca Cassidy Goldsmiths, University of London, Dr May van Schalkwyk Honorary research fellow, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine