NHS: Culture shift needed to prevent gambling-related harm
Matthew Gaskell lays out the case for DCMS Select Committee as he says fines have limited impact on operator behaviour
A senior NHS figure has said a “culture of intensive consumption” is leading to increases in gambling-related harm and a spike in clinic users.
Matthew Gaskell, clinical lead for the NHS Northern Gambling Service, was speaking in front of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee today (18 July) as part of the ongoing inquiry into gambling regulation.
Gaskell pulled no punches in his assessment of the industry and the government’s attempts to remedy issues via the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review.
He said the document was “not a prevention of harm white paper” and that there had been “little incentive” for operators to comply with regulations.
Gaskell noted he expects there to be an increase in the use of NHS gambling clinics, which, he said, was due to the current environment of the sector.
The NHS is set to open seven new gambling-treatment-specific clinics this summer, taking the total number of this type of clinic in England to 15.
Last year there was a 30% increase in the number of people being referred to these clinics.
Gaskell said: “When I reflect on what we see across the NHS clinics, we expect to see a continuation of the culture of high-frequency continuous gambling. Unaffordable losses look set to continue.
“As my colleagues have expressed, [the white paper was] a huge miss on advertising, very weak on marketing and sponsorship of our national sports.”
Gaskell went on to say fines handed down by the Gambling Commission had had little effect and that a cultural shift would need to take place to prevent harm.
He said: “There seems set to be a continuation of the business model of the industry which relies on disproportionate profits coming from those harmed by and addicted to gambling.
“The priority has to be to safeguard our citizens, to have a zero tolerance to gambling-related suicides, to create an industry where people can enjoy a night at the bingo, a day at the races, a fiver on a football accumulator at the weekend, but to stop this culture of intensive consumption that is leading to the harm that we see in the clinic,” he added.