Health officials from Australia, the U.K. and Africa say big gambling companies are employing the same kinds of tactics that big tobacco used to fight stronger regulations. They urge governments to treat them in the same way, Guardian Australia reported September 23.
About a dozen academics in an editorial in the journal Health Promotion International accused gambling companies of funding research into the harms caused by gambling while simultaneously urging weaker regulations.
The op-ed said, “The commercial gambling industry operates from a similar playbook to other health-harming industries, such as tobacco and alcohol.” Two of the authors of the piece were Samantha Thomas from Deakin University and Sean Cowlishaw from Monash University.
It continued, “This involves delaying and circumventing regulation, developing innovative products and promotions, appealing to new markets, co-opting the production of research and knowledge and capturing ‘public health’ responses through corporate political activities.”
They wrote there is plenty of evidence to “show the significant negative health and social consequences of gambling not only for individuals who gamble, but also for families and communities.”
A recent study of coroner court data in Australia’s state of Victoria found that problem gambling contributed to 184 suicides over eight years, the Guardian reported. The great majority of them involved men between 17 and 44.
About 1.3 million people in Australia are thought to be experiencing “gambling harm.” Such harms can include debt, bankruptcy, problems with time management, broken relationships, legal troubles and physical and psychological health issues.
The piece noted that the World Health Organization’s framework for tobacco control calls on governments to “protect their public health policies related to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.” It called on governments to apply the same criteria to gambling interests.
They wrote: “In the absence of such protections, the gambling industry has lobbied all levels of government with few constraints and regularly funds academic research through industry-funded, third-party organizations that are often registered as charities.”
Guardian Australia notes that gaming companies and Responsible Wagering Australia, whose members are part of the gambling community, have lobbied the government to weaken recommendations by a parliamentary investigation of online gaming.
In August the sportsbook companies Sportsbet and Entain Australia donated money to fund a new gambling research center at the University of Sydney. Another big donor is the International Center for Responsible Gaming, which has many large casino companies as members.
The Australian Medical Association and many members of parliament have criticized this situation as being “tone deaf.”
The article concludes, “Any efforts to counter the commercial gambling industry must apply the same scrupulousness that we apply to the tobacco industry and how we interact with it, or not.”
