THE Government has admitted that spending on gambling will rise by almost 40 per cent by 2010, but claimed that its long-awaited Gambling Bill, published yesterday, would not lead to a rise in addicts.

Ministers want to convince the public that the Bill has enough safeguards to counterbalance the effects of mass casino expansion.

However, the Bill is expected to encounter strong opposition in both Houses of Parliament after lobbying by church groups and smaller gaming organisations, which fear that they will be swamped by American “super-casinos”.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey, a minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, said yesterday that he rejects concerns that the casinos will fuel problem gambling.

He told The Times: “I understand why people are sceptical about that claim, but people are looking at one small part of the Bill and we have made many changes.”

The Government rejects reports by the Henley Centre and the National Economic Research Associates, which predict a doubling of problem gambling by 2010, because “neither has produced any new evidence about the underlying causes of problem gambling”. While the parts of the legislation relating to super-casinos have received widespread attention, there has been less focus on the measures to tighten rules on new, unregulated forms of gambling.

One of the most pressing concerns that the Bill addresses is internet gambling. For the first time, internet casinos based in Britain will face regulation and pay tax.

This is long overdue, because internet betting has boomed over the past few years. Internet gambling is largely responsible for the threefold increase in addiction over the past five years.

Yet the Government is able to take action only against online casinos based in Britain and only two of the top five gambling websites are home-grown.

Another key part of the Bill is a limit on the number of fixed-odds betting terminals. These computerised roulette wheels have sprung up in betting shops and use a loophole to evade the current limits and allow stakes of up to £15 in return for a possible jackpot of £500.

The Government believes that these machines were responsible for the problems being experienced in Australia and, after a failed attempt at taking betting shops to court, that legislation is the only way to tackle them.

The most controversial section of the legislation relates to the provision for super-casinos, which many fear will result in an explosion of problem gambling. Premises larger than 5,000 sq m will qualify for “regional casino” status and be allowed to operate £1 million slot machines. Ministers believe that they will regenerate run-down areas.

Casinos would no longer have to be sited in “permitted” areas and would not require membership. These would be allowed to operate up to 1,250 unlimited-prize slot machines.

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