Public health body pens open letter with player protection recommendations
Association of Directors of Public Health urges government to regulate marketing and promotions to tackle gambling-related harm
The Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) has published an open letter to Gambling Minister Chris Philp with recommendations as to how best to protect the public in the forthcoming white paper.
The ADPH argued that the way in which gambling products are designed, marketed and accessed has advanced to such an extent that the industry has become commercialised based on rapid and intense consumption.
The letter also covers three key areas that the body feels need to be addressed in the long-overdue white paper which will lay out recommendations on changes to laws following the Gambling Act 2005 review.
The first of those is how products are marketed to the general public. This is not just limited to marketing and promotional campaigns but also includes sponsorship.
The letter suggests marketing leads to higher consumption, which in turn leads to higher harm at individual and population levels, so the recommendation is that the government regulates marketing and promotional material in the interests of public health.
The next recommendation is to create a sustainable system of funding, with the body pointing to flaws in the current system of voluntary donations by the industry and insisting the current system is “deeply problematic and incommensurate to the burdens of harm”.
It was recommended that there should be transparency on how the funding is administered and a clear aim for a levy to tackle harmful gambling backed up by evidence.
In addition, the ADPH said that promoting public health should be at the forefront of gambling policy, which includes protecting children and young people and their right to grow up in a safe and healthy environment.
The letter outlines how “gambling has become increasingly easy to access, glamorised, and promoted to a wide audience which includes children”.
To address the concerns raised by the association, it was suggested the government prioritises safety, yet until the recommendations are met “there is a clear danger of tokenism about the moniker of a public health approach”.
The parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nigel Huddleston, said on 7 June that the white paper “is a priority” and would be published “in the coming weeks”.