GAMBLING is likely to become one of Britain’s most serious addictions by 2026 because of relaxed gaming laws and new betting technology, the Government has been told.

A report for the Department of Trade and Industry says that the Government has not paid enough attention to what long-term effect its new gaming laws will have on the public.

Britain’s laws, it says, will have problems keeping pace with technological advancements in gaming, including internet gambling, spreadbetting, fixed-odds betting terminals and betting via mobile phone and television.

These new forms of gaming suggest that gambling is likely to become a widespread and damaging problem in the next 20 years. Of particular concern is spread-sheet betting, which, the report says, can leave gamblers with huge losses.

Jim Orford, the report’s author, told The Times that all the evidence suggested that the greater the availability, the greater problems would be.

However, he said that the problems associated with excessive gambling would be concealed for some time, but that in years to come people would start asking how it had happened.

“The problems are not suddenly going to be in the headlines. The effects on families, in particular, do not get much publicity,” he said. “The Government, strongly pressured by the gaming industry, has gone for a major liberation of gaming and everybody I have spoken to thinks that will increase the number of problem gamblers.”

He said that the Government had not seriously thought about the health implications of relaxing Britain’s traditionally restrictive gambling laws.

“I don’t think they (ministers) gave sufficient attention to the public health aspects of problem gambling, nor did they pay much attention to whether the public really wanted this relaxation,” he said.

Professor Orford, who teaches clinical and community psychology at the University of Birmingham, had been asked by the DTI to look at the long-term effects of gambling. He carried out his study while Parliament was passing the Gambling Act 2005, which lets casino operators expand their business and set up resort casinos, to make it easier to visit a casino.

Professor Orford’s report says that the law has encouraged new forms of gambling and ways of accessing gambling that are likely to increase the risk of addiction.

“These include casino resorts, gambling machines with unlimited stakes and prizes, and British internet gambling sites,” the report says.

“They add to developments such as internet gambling and spread betting, as well as the numer- ous new variations of gambling, such as bingo and casino table games, which are likely to increase their addiction liability.”

The report says that gaming machines in public houses and gambling on personal com-puters would help to make gambling part of the national way of life.

Internet gambling is expected to grow rapidly and the report gives a warning of the possibility of legalised gambling through mobile phones and digital television.

It also highlights the danger involved in spread-betting, which allows participants to bet on the financial market and the outcome of sporting events. “The unique quality — and risk — in spread-betting lies in the fact that the potential losses can be far greater than the amount of money staked,” the report says.

Professor Orford said that Britain had a reputation for having a highly regulated gaming industry but that gambling was now being portrayed as part of the mainstream leisure industry.

The change was signalled when responsibility for the industry was moved from the Home Office, where it was seen as a potential danger, to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Professor Orford said that gambling was not just an ordinary leisure activity and that great care had to be taken with the effect that a relaxation of gambling laws would have.

“I think that almost certainly it will lead to more gambling, more people gambling, more and more kinds of different gambling on the internet and regional casinos,” he said.

“All the evidence suggests and supports the view that when facilities increase, problems increase. That is what has happened with the greater availability of drugs and alcohol.”

RISKY BUSINESS

It is predicted that the reforms could create up to 750,000 problem gamblers

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