A Sign of the Times

Although he was a Minister in the Government that, while it did not cause the problem, certainly did not make it any better, David Lammy writes:

It is a sign of the times that recently published researched showing that almost half a million Britons have a gambling problem went largely unnoticed.

The damage done to those people, and the friends and relatives who are also affected, is readily dismissed by some with an appeal to notions of free will and individual choice. It was their choice to gamble; their problem is their choosing. The same logic gets the gambling industry off the hook: the casinos, betting shops and gambling sites are simply responding to consumer demand.

Where has that left us? We have grown accustomed to the idea that schoolchildren should walk past five or six betting shops between their school and the bus stop. Or that sporting coverage should be punctuated by adverts with "live" odds, inviting viewers to gamble on the outcome. Our distance from the problem can give comfort. Many of us gamble, but mainly online, over the telephone, or we fill in a lottery slip at the corner shop without being confronted by problem gambling. The insides of every new betting shop are a mystery.

The garish colours splashed across the front of bookmakers' shops block the depression that lies behind the plastic advertising boards. The penniless young men glued to virtual roulette wheels while others queue are invisible to the passing public. You're prevented from seeing the desperation of men surrounded by scrunched up, worthless betting slips that represent their afternoon's endeavours.

The romantic vision of bookmakers filled with scores of working-class men betting on horses is out of date. Now a large proportion of bookmakers' takings come from touch-screen betting terminals. They offer you the chance to bet up to £100 a time on casino games that take place at up to three times the speed. These are no longer just bookmakers' shops, they are casinos, operating openly and freely in a growing number of locations on our high streets.

The government's survey data tells us that the average problem gambler is male, young, unemployed and from a deprived neighbourhood. The bookmakers know where to find them. That's why Newham has three times as many bookmakers as Richmond-upon-Thames. It is a predatory industry that profits from poverty.

Gambling laws that were weakened under the last Labour government have given gambling firms free rein over our high streets. Loopholes in the legislation are being exploited so that banks can be converted into bookmakers' shops with no need for planning permission. In the depths of the recession, when people in our inner cities were most in need of financial advice, they found a virtual roulette wheel instead. A social crisis caused by gambling on financial markets is being exacerbated by invitations to gamble on high streets.

People "demand" the opportunity to gamble away money they do not have, just like people "demand" money from loan sharks at extortionate interest rates. This is a warped, empty type of freedom, in which the powerful are free to exploit the vulnerable. Unless we establish some speed limits on the road, we are only going to need more and more ambulances.

All TV advertising of gambling before the 9pm watershed must stop. If people really want to have a bet then they will do. Rather than abolishing the Gambling Commission, the government should be looking at stopping old-fashioned bookies' shops becoming soulless mini-casinos. Most of all, residents need their voice heard. We deserve a say if a company wants to build the ninth betting shop on a 300m stretch of high street. This is not just a question of consumer demand – we walk, cycle, drive and shop on these streets every day.

In Britain all parties talk about devolving power – away from ministers and mandarins to councillors and communities. But it's a patronising, half-hearted offer that treats people only as consumers, not as parents, residents and citizens who have wider concerns. Ministers drone on about localism but people are still denied a say over so many of the things that matter to them. Many will decry this as "paternalism" but this is not about prohibiting gambling. People simply want to have a say over more than which horse to back at the 4:20 at Epsom.