Gaming halls may be asked to add staff
The English cities of Manchester and London are potential “gambling addict” hotspots, according to a new index prepared by Geofutures.
The BBC News reports that councils in Manchester and Westminster City developed the maps based on “factors of vulnerability” including the proximity of drug and alcohol treatment centers. In the affected areas, any gaming establishment may be required to employ more staff to identify problem gamblers, as well as hire more security officers.
Councillor Nigel Murphy of Manchester City said problem gamblers often “do not draw attention to themselves … The issue has been very hard for authorities to deal with because so little is known about who these people are.”
The new hotspot study “is a cutting-edge piece of research that has never been done before, and will enable us to understand who is at risk of developing a gambling problem and where these groups can be found,” said Murphy.
“We are not against the gambling industry per se, but we think that it is important to understand the impact on areas in which they operate,” added Westminster Councillor Nickie Aiken. “It is in the best interests of those running gambling premises to reduce these negative impacts.”
The website Mancunianmatters.com reports that Manchester is home to a number of major casino brands, including Genting Club; the Hard Rock; Grosvenor; and the Manchester235 entertainment complex.
Meanwhile, in response to a betting epidemic in the Great Britain, National Health System doctors are prescribing to gamblers the anti-addiction drug naltrexone, usually given to alcoholics and heroin addicts. Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, a researcher from the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London, said, “The medication is used to stop the most compulsive gamblers who are resistant to treatment. It helps stop craving.”
The National Problem Gambling Clinic in London has distributed the drug to at least five patients under a pilot program commissioned by the Responsible Gambling Trust, operates the clinic. which runs the National Problem Gambling Clinic says the course of treatment costs about $98 per patient for three months, or $390 a year.
A clinic spokesperson added, “This is a valid treatment for problem gambling for whom other treatments have not worked. The pilot is designed to establish clinical effectiveness and demand in a UK population of problem gamblers, prior to any decision being made on expanding this medication to form a front line treatment for problem gambling. Most patients self-refer to the clinic and are given psychological support for their gambling problem, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).”
Recent data indicates in 2015, doctors referred almost 1,000 severe problem gamblers to the London clinic for help, while calls to the GamCare hotline increased by one-third. Half of the 40,000 people who called the hotline were impacted by financial or relationship crises due to gambling.
Statistics show more than a half-million problem gamblers reside in Britain. Anti-gambling groups blame fixed-odds betting terminals, called the “crack cocaine” of gambling, which allow users to stake up to $144 per bet on roulette, poker and other games. In the past five years, the number of people addicted to FOBTs rose more than 50 per cent.
Introduced a decade ago, the machines initially were declared illegal by the Labor government, which stated roulette bets only may be made in a casino. But the government changed course after bookmakers argued that the wheel spins actually were done Gibraltar and other tax havens.
New controls introduced April require players to get permission from bookmakers’ staff to bet more than $72 per spin. However, the Fairer Gambling group released figures showing Ladbrokes alone now makes more than $1,437 per week per machine, an increase of 9 per cent in one year. The bookmaker said its growth primarily came from $3 bets and that it takes responsible gambling very seriously. But Fairer Gambling’s Adrian Parkinson said the increase in profits showed self-regulation failed.
At Paddy Power, weekly FOBT profits rose 4 per cent from $1,900 in the first six months of 2014 to $1,973 in the same time frame in 2015. At Coral, profits rose 3 percent, from $1,375 to $1,417 in the first nine months of 2014 and 2015.
A spokesman for the Culture and Media Department said, “We introduced strong gambling controls last April. This includes putting an end to unsupervised stakes about $72 on FOBTs and giving more power to local authorities to stop new betting shops opening up in the area.” The Association of British Bookmakers stated, “The industry works closely with government and regulators on responsible gambling initiatives.”
