Gambling in the UK

“The National Lottery really did turn us into a nation of gamblers. It meant that two thirds of the British population were regularly gambling. It brought women into gambling. Gambling became destigmatised.” (Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, Nottingham Trent University)

The picture of gambling in the UK is changing rapidly. Most people would recognise a description of the normalisation and commercialisation of gambling in recent years. Much of this can be traced to the change in regulatory framework, and thereafter attitudes, brought about by the advent of the Lottery in 1994. From this time, gambling became more socially acceptable than ever before, as the law changed to allow betting shops to serve food and light refreshments and to have windows open to the street. The other seismic influence has been the growth of internet and interactive gambling, as one aspect of the overall burgeoning of the internet’s impact on our lives. Given the pace and scale of change, this report is necessarily a snapshot in time which seeks to identify the main drivers of change and areas of future concern.

The regulatory framework
Legislation on gambling is reserved to Westminster and is dealt with at a UK level, although the Scottish Parliament has a role in determining the form of licensing authorities’ policy statements, and local authority licensing committees will determine whether or not to grant licenses in their local communities. Traditionally, the primary purpose of UK gambling legislation had been regulation with a view to social control, rather than economic regeneration. This differed from the approach taken to regulation in other countries. UK law said that gambling should be legal, but not stimulated, and commercial and economic interests took a secondary place in determining the nature of legislation. This changed with the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 and since then, UK legislation has sought to stimulate, rather than to discourage gambling.

The Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland deeply regrets the fact that the effect of this has been to change the way that gambling is generally viewed in this country. We recognise the paradox that the more that an activity is “sanitised” through regulation for essentially good reasons, the more socially acceptable it becomes. However, we believe that the balance has now shifted too far in the direction of “normalisation”.

The Gambling Act of 2005 replaced most of the existing law about gambling in Great Britain. Much of what that Act does is to be welcomed, in terms of introducing a comprehensive structure of gambling regulations and greater protections for children and young people as well as bringing the internet gaming sector within British regulations for the first time. However, at least in part to satisfy commercial and economic interests, the Act allows for an increase in the number of casinos in Great Britain, currently a maximum increase of 17, including one “super” or regional casino. Almost all media attention has concentrated on this aspect of the Act, and on the one regional or “super” casino in particular, (discussed further below).

The new regulatory body for Gambling in the UK is the Gambling Commission, which came into existence on 1 October 2005. It currently regulates bingos, casinos, charitable lotteries and gaming machines. From September 2007 it will also regulate betting and remote gambling, including online, mobile phone and other non-terrestrial forms of gambling. Ultimately, it will regulate all commercial gambling except the National Lottery and spread betting. The statutory duty of the Commission is to pursue three objectives which are set out in the 2005 Act, and to permit gambling insofar as it is judged reasonably compatible with these:
- Preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;
- Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way;
- Protecting children and other vulnerable persons form being harmed or exploited by gambling.


Credits

The picture of gambling men was done by Johnny.ie.



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