Today, the UK Labour Party is expected to unveil its proposals for a new tax that is to be imposed on gambling. Labour is aimed at redirecting money accumulated thanks to the new tax in order to fund National Health Service (NHS) treatment programs for people suffering from problem gambling behaviour.
According to media reports, a review into problem gambling is to be officially presented by the deputy Labour Party leader Tom Watson and Jon Ashworth, a shadow culture secretary in Brighton. The Labour Party is to call for the UK Government to give the green light to a “winter bailout fund” estimated to £500 million. As mentioned above, the money would be redirected to National Health Service programs over the upcoming months.
According to Mr. Ashworth, the winter record of NHS patients over the first year of Theresa May as Prime Minister was the worst one ever. He said that last year, Theresa May simply refused to provide the National Health Service the money it needed in order to make their programs run the way they were supposed to.
Labour Party deputy leader Tom Watson, who is to also take part in the initiative, said that the review will examine the ability of the National Health Service to offer local gambling addicts suitable and efficient mental health treatment. Moreover, Mr. Watson is to accuse gambling operators of being deliberately targeting more vulnerable people, young people and poor communities in order to generate profit. He also said that gambling companies did not always block users’ accounts efficiently as part of the self-exclusion scheme.
According to the deputy leader of the Labour, gambling companies must be held responsible for such behaviour, especially considering the fact that lives of hundreds of thousands of people were ruined by gambling addiction.
The Problem with Gambling Addictions
The Labour Party’s inquiry is to examine proposal about a new compulsory tax on the gambling industry aimed at funding gambling addicts treatment programs. The new tax is also aimed at replacing the current regime that allows operators to make voluntary payments in case they want to, but lacks a working mechanism obliging them to make such payments.
According to a report issued by the country’ gambling regulatory body – the UK Gambling Commission – currently, there are about 430,000 people in the UK who suffer from a gambling addiction, while other 1.57 million people are put at risk of problem gambling behaviour. UK Gambling operators currently make contributions to the GambleAware charity, which is focused on funding education, prevention and treatment for people affected by problem gambling. Unfortunately, their contributions are not large enough to help the charity gather the necessary donation it recommends.
Up to date, GambleAware suggests gambling operators to make contributions amounting to 0.1% of their gross gaming yield. According to recent reports, the amount that should have been gathered over the twelve months ending in September 2016 were supposed to amount to £13.8 million, but instead, the local gambling industry gave away only £7.6 million to the charity.
According to a recent report released by GambleAware and the Institute for Public Policy Research, the overall expenses of problem gambling, including mental health services, homelessness and police intervention could cost taxpayers approximately £1.2 billion on an annual basis.
- Author
Daniel Williams
