Responsible gambling on the agenda at British Labour Party conference

A panel of experts discussed the government’s Gambling White Paper.

UK.- Responsible gambling was discussed at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool. Hosted by the charity Gordon Moody, a panel of experts discussed UK gambling policy, including the Gambling White Paper.

Participants in the fringe event included Bournemouth University’s Professor John McAlaney, Dr Jane Rigbye of youth gambling charity YGAM, Sarah Forshaw of Gordon Moody and Jenny Rathbone MS, who represents Cardiff Central in the Welsh Senedd and is chair of the Gambling-Related Harm Cross-Party Group.

They debated the plan to update legislation in the UK that regulates gambling and explored the policy proposals and their expected impact on the gambling sector and on players who experience harm.

The discussion included a focus on lived experience and statistics on gambling spending. Professor McAlaney, a trustee for Gordon Moody, spoke about the issues of research funding for gambling.

He said: “There is a real opportunity for the government to create gambling legislation that could make a real and meaningful impact to people’s lives, especially those at risk of addiction. We have seen and heard the devastating impact that gambling can have, especially online gambling, which is often too easy to access, and it is my hope that, through discussions like this, we can help to support the government as the legislation is created, to present research and experience to future-proof the legislation and make it as impactful as it can be.”

Rathbone was more sceptical about the Gambling White Paper in its current form calling it “not fit for purpose“. She said there was a lack of power to control gambling in the UK because of the presence of operators based abroad. She also criticised the prevalence of gambling-like mechanics in video games.