Debate contribution: Gambling-related Harms: Public Health Approach

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 28 January 2025.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

28 January 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Gambling-related Harms: Public Health Approach

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4764141

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank the Member who moved the motion for speaking out. I also thank the members of the APG for their work. There are clear winners and losers in the gambling industry. The winners are the multinational corporations that rake in the profits. The losers are the punters whose mental and physical health is destroyed by gambling addiction and their loved ones. As we have heard, the rate of problem gambling is consistently higher in the North than it is in the South or in Great Britain. There are at least four times as many people with a gambling problem here than there are in Britain. There are the same number of people experiencing gambling-related harm in the Six Counties as there are in the Twenty-six Counties combined, which is hugely worrying. Despite that, the North is, as we have heard, a Wild West where gambling reform is falling behind that in the rest of the islands. Gambling harm affects people differently. Rates of prevalence seem to be higher amongst men and boys, though women face specific pressures and challenges when it comes to gambling addiction and recovery. People living in poverty and those with mental health issues are much more likely to gamble, and they are much more at risk of gambling harm. The figures and stats that we have heard today only scratch the surface. For every person with a gambling problem, between five and 10 other people are indirectly harmed by it. There is a lack of data on gambling-related suicide. Figures suggest — some estimate — that between 4% and 11% of suicides are likely to be gambling-related, but I suspect that the percentage is probably higher. The financial impacts are also devastating. While families who are harmed by gambling fall into debt and destitution, the gambling industry is raking it in. It is literally profiteering from other people's misery. In the UK, the gambling industry is worth over £15 billion. Its insatiable thirst for profit leaves people suffering in its wake. It is also worth mentioning that Bet365 and William Hill have subsidiaries in tax havens around the world, so they are avoiding taxes as well, and we must mention that the names of gambling companies are emblazoned on sports tops and stadiums across the board. The industry's goal is to exploit as many people as possible, especially in our most deprived communities, and to extract as much wealth as it can from the pockets of working-class people at any cost. It is an industry that also spends £1·5 billion a year on advertising in the UK. That is a total waste of money, but it also causes severe harm. The way in which operators target their ads at people who are most at risk of harm is absolutely ruthless. Massive amounts of data are harvested about players, including the types of marketing to which people are more susceptible. On the basis of what they respond to, ads are then hyper-targeted at users. Some 60% of gambling companies' profits come from just 5% of users: that is terrifying. Gambling companies do not see people with a gambling addiction as vulnerable people who are in need of support; they are just high-value customers. It is predatory capitalism at it finest. While trying to suck as much money out of people as possible, betting companies warn people by saying, "Gamble responsibly" and, "When the fun stops, stop", as though it is as simple as that for a person with an addiction to turn off the switch. Research shows that those warning messages have absolutely no effect. It is clear that a public health approach to tackling gambling will not come from Westminster. The gambling industry and its lobbyists enjoy a cosy relationship with Labour and the Tories. Westminster has been a trailblazer when it comes to regulating gambling but in all the wrong ways. It has exported light-touch regulation and messaging about responsible gambling around the world. An industry as powerful and profitable as the gambling industry will never regulate itself. There is an opportunity for us to take a completely different approach to gambling harm in the North, and I urge the Executive to do so. That begins with recognising gambling as a public health issue similar to alcohol and tobacco, as Members have said. Rather than framing gambling as an issue rooted in individual attitudes and behaviours, a public health approach would recognise the wider impact of gambling on the well-being of the whole community. The Department of Health should work alongside the Department for Communities, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to reduce and prevent gambling harm. I pay tribute to the many volunteers, including those in my constituency, who help others with gambling issues. They do so in their own time, off their own back and from the goodness of their heart. There is Gambling with Lives, but there are also groups in my constituency that meet in Twin Spires and Coláiste Feirste. The situation is not sustainable, however, because they report to me that they are getting early morning calls — at 2.00 am and 3.00 am — from people who are suicidal because of gambling-related issues. It should be treated as a public health issue, and appropriate funding should flow from that. We also need a dedicated gambling treatment service. As we have heard, England has 15 such clinics: we have zero. A financial levy should also be applied to gambling operators in the North to fund research, prevention and treatment. I support the motion, and I urge the Executive to act on this matter of public health.

940 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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