Freedom From Harm - Gambling as a Public Health Issue

It’s marketed as harmless fun - a quick spin, a flutter, a chance to win big. As the MP for a town with a racecourse, I’m no stranger to gambling. As a liberal I view this as both a freedom-to and a freedom-from issue.

Because for too many people, gambling leads not to a jackpot, but to debt, broken relationships, and even tragedy.

Across the UK, millions are affected by gambling harms each year. It’s estimated that one-person-a-day dies by gambling-related suicide. Children are growing up in households where gambling problems overshadow family life. And the rise of online slot machines available 24/7 on phones means that gambling is easier, faster, and riskier than ever before.

The gambling industry knows this. It profits from it. And for years, the absence of firm regulation has let them get away with it. Public safety has been put behind profits, with few wider economic benefits from the rise of online gambling.

In 2023, politicians from all parties agreed we needed a public health approach to gambling, and now the Labour Government must not quietly step back from that consensus.

As liberals, we believe adults should be free to gamble if they choose. But freedom also means freedom from harm.

Today, Liberal Democrat members have passed new policy to put public health at the heart of gambling regulation:

• Creating a statutory, independent Gambling Ombudsman with real power.
   
• Curbing the impact of gambling advertising, marketing, and sponsorship.
   
• Enforcing affordability checks so no one can gamble beyond their means.
   
• Giving local councils the same powers over regulating gambling venues as they have over pubs.
   
• Regulating online ‘loot boxes’ as gambling.
   
• Making online gambling companies pay their fair share by increasing remote gaming duty from 21% to 42%.

The scale of the problem is clear: 1 in 40 people experience problem gambling, including 1 in 66 11–17-year-olds; and more than three million adults are harmed by someone else’s gambling. The cost to society is as high as £1.77 billion a year - and the human cost is far greater.

These reforms would not only save lives, they’d raise hundreds of millions of pounds to help fund NHS treatment for gambling addiction and prevent future harm.

The gambling industry has had a free pass for too long. Liberal Democrats will hold them to account and put people before profits, so that gambling in the UK can be safe, fair, and free from harm.