Industries can be loosely grouped into two categories, value adding and value extracting. A business that solves problems by manufacturing solar panels or malaria pills grows the economy by adding value to the experience of others and a business that simply extracts wealth from individuals and society as a whole does not. The addiction industries are examples of wealth extractors and their profits are more or less guaranteed as a result of the suffering of addicts; for the deeply unethical investor, they are a lucrative source of returns on investment.
The leading innovator in the field of addiction is the gambling industry. Light touch regulation, the disastrous 2005 Gambling Act and the profusion of new technologies has presented bookies with unprecedented reach into the lives of potential addicts. The epidemic of harmful gambling that has swept across the UK since 2005 has been met by little more than token efforts and hand wringing by successive British governments in the past 13 years. The recent decision to reduce the maximum FOBT stake to £2 is a welcome change, especially as it had cross party support, but it was far too little, far too late.
The prevailing philosophy of light touch regulation is ostensibly based in the claim that it is better to work with industry rather than against it. This timidity simply emboldens a rapacious set of multinational companies whose sole objective is to maximise profits, pay as little tax as possible and then leave society to clear up the collateral damage. This being so, it seems pointless to attempt to appease an industry that is dedicated to achieving its own ends regardless of the cost. The gambling industry and other addiction industries are normally happy to comply with responsibility deals and self regulation, knowing that it is meaningless.
The suggestions below might be considered utopian, fantastical, absurd even. They are changes that a government that put the welfare of the most vulnerable over corporate profits would implement should Britain ever elect one.
1) Publication of data showing the percentage of profits directly accrued from addicts.
The gambling industry goes to great lengths to present its products as harmless fun, little more than the odd flutter on the Grand National or a bet on the cup final. A £13 billion a year industry cannot realistically sustain itself on the occasional bet, however, and the profusion of internet betting means that bookies now have precise data on which punters are addicted and which are not. If, as is widely suspected, the lions share of industry profits come from the exploitation of addicts, then this information should be made freely available as a matter of public interest.
2) A windfall tax on all profits directly accrued from addicts
The most destructive businesses outsource risk and privatise profits, leaving society to clear up their messes and gambling companies have become the modern equivalent of fly tippers. The immense costs to communities that are caused by bookies which relentlessly promote their products to vulnerable people are well known, but the share of profits that come directly from addiction is hidden. A windfall tax on these profits would firstly help to fund services for families and individuals devastated by gambling addiction. It would also present a huge disincentive to bookies looking to directly target and exploit addicts.
3) Unlimited fines on companies that directly target young people in their advertising
Like tobacco companies, the bookies know that younger gamblers are a source of long term revenue. They are also more susceptible to advertising, more likely to normalise gambling, less able to cope with the stresses of gambling and more likely to hide the problem away and less likely to seek help. Targeting young people using advertising should be seen as completely unacceptable and the subject of unlimited fines.
4) A ban on advertising that normalises gambling as part of sport
There is a reason why the bookies pour millions into advertising at sporting events and fill the breaks between football matches with adverts for their apps. The industry seeks to normalise gambling as part of the sporting experience and leave sports fans convinced that sports cannot function normally without betting. The point of a football match becomes the bet on the outcome, not the enjoyment of the sport for its own sake. Gambling in previous generations has been peripheral to the sport itself, but now we are transitioning into a culture where the bet becomes the sole point of the sport itself. We must demand a ban on any advertising that normalises this.
5) Government health warnings on gambling apps
When the tobacco industry was forced to admit the smoking caused lung cancer, that nicotine was highly addictive and cigarettes caused dozens of fatal and life altering illnesses, a gradual generational shift away from smoking began. The reality of gambling addiction should be made clear to the users of all gambling products. Even if a direct causal link between gambling and depression or anxiety cannot be made at present, the strong correlation between betting and depression should be made clear to all punters. Evidence now suggests that 76% of gamblers suffer from depression; no doubt the industry will claim that this is not as a result of betting, but the statistic alone would help to change the perception of gambling that the bookies are trying to create.
6) An instant lifetime exclusion button on all gambling apps
Self exclusion from drinking has a long and well established legal pedigree. Anyone asking bar staff to stop serving them has in effect informed the staff that it is not safe to offer them any more alcohol; any attempts to encourage drinking after that point is a crime. Bar staff also have a legal responsibility not to serve anyone who appears to be intoxicated and can be prosecuted if they do. Bookies operate a self exclusion policy, placing the responsibility on the gambler to ask all betting shops in their neighbourhood to prevent them from entering. In the age of the smart phone app, this is a more complex procedure and the bookies know that if it can be drawn out and made as long winded and bureaucratic as possible, the potential self excluder will give up and go back to gaming. This unreasonable demand would see a one click lifetime exclusion button on the landing page of the app that could be clicked at any time.
7) All parliamentarians and public figures who have accepted hospitality from the gambling industry must recuse themselves from any public discussion of gambling or any lobbying work.
A straight forward unreasonable demand. Those MPs who can no longer influence the debate on gambling in favour of the bookies after receiving hospitality or funds from them will quickly be seen by the industry as a poor investment of time and energy.
These are just a few suggestions that might, if implemented, clip the wings of an over mighty industry. Please feel free to challenge and improve on these and hopefully come up with something even better. We will be focusing on these trouble making notions at the Excessive Gambling Wales Conference on June 20th this year, which you can attend for free by registering here.