The British government has initiated a new crackdown on betting establishments that exploit problem gamblers, with new rules and a promise of tougher enforcement by the U.K. Gambling Commission.
One of the new rules revamps the commission’s self-exclusion system to allow problem gamblers to sign a central register that will be shared by all bookmakers, rather than requiring self-exclusion agreements to be signed with individual bookmakers.
Another rule is aimed at limiting the proliferation of betting shops, particularly in areas where gambling has been identified as a problem. Companies will now be required to perform a “local-area risk assessment” before opening a new bookmaker or casino location.
“My message has been that if you do not learn the lessons of recent cases and raise standards, we will intervene further, and this is likely to mean taking much tougher enforcement action,” Commission Chief Executive Sarah Harrison told The Guardian. She said penalties for problem gambling violations are likely to be much more than the £280,000 Paddy Power recently made as a voluntary payment after the commission found the bookmaker had encouraged a problem gambler to keep betting.
Some anti-gambling groups are saying the self-exclusion rule does not go far enough. In an interview with The Guardian, Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former gambling addict and spokesman for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said the new rules only extend the current system, which relies on staff recognizing the faces of sometimes dozens of problem gamblers.
“They’ve simply made it easier to sign up to a system that doesn’t work,” he told the newspaper. “The vast majority of self-exclusions are related to FOBTs, so wouldn’t it be more effective to look at the products causing addiction?”
Anti-gambling activists have long criticized the proliferation of fixed-odds betting terminals, which they call the “crack cocaine of gambling.”
