Betting Firms Not Helping Gambling Addiction

The charity claims that the Government now needs to crack down and enforce this by law, after a lack of funding from companies undermined their efforts to help those affected by gambling addiction. GambleAware were forced to inform the Gambling Commission back in August that they may not be able to support themselves financially, as of the predicted £13.8m, only £8m was collected last year and only £4m so far this year.

In their view, this is proof that the betting industry is unwilling and unready to make steps in combatting gambling addiction. As such, GambleAware has called for a “statutory levy” to be put in place, to force companies to honour their pledge to give 0.1% of all earnings to charity, as agreed when Labour deregulated gambling in 2007.

GambleAware has vowed to get tougher on contributors, by releasing company donation figures as of next year and demanding company publication. This is due to receiving donations from companies as low as just £1. Of course, some leading brands, such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Gala Coral readily revealed their figure to meet and exceed the 0.1% amount. However, others, such as Paddy Power and 888, refuse to reveal this information.

A government review into gambling regulations was conducted on the 31st October, though it has been hailed by deputy Labour leader Tom Watson as “deeply disappointing.” The result was a cut on the minimum bet on fixed-odds betting terminals from £100 to between £50 and £2. However, it has done little to tackle the issue of funding in tackling gambling addiction.