UK News
Latest UK News
Irresponsible statement by Chair of Responsible Gambling Trust
Thursday 21 March 2013
Gambling Watch UK has been critical of the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) since its launch in April 2012. For a start we think that this way of deciding how gambling research, treatment and prevention should be funded is quite wrong:...
Read moreGambling and Alcohol, Parallels and Shared Solutions: a New Report
Thursday 21 February 2013
A Losing Bet? Alcohol and Gambling: Investigating Parallels and Shared Solutions, a report by Alcohol Concern and the Royal College of Psychiatrists There is a great deal in common in the nature of alcohol and gambling problems and in the ways...
Read moreGovernment fails to deal with Fixed Odds Betting Terminals on the high street but resists the Select Committee’s call to make them even more available
Monday 21 January 2013
On January 15th, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published the Government’s response to the July 2012 CMS Select Committee’s report into the implementation of the 2005 Gambling Act. Gambling Watch UK had been appalled by that report’s...
Read moreNew Gambling Research focuses on Irresponsible Players rather than Dangerous Gambling Products
Wednesday 05 December 2012
Gambling Watch UK has already been critical of the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) as a gambling industry-led body which disburses funds for gambling research, education and treatment in Britain (see UK News/Launch of the RGT). RGT now proposes a half...
Read moreThe gambling industry levy: £25 million would be a more appropriate target
Wednesday 31 October 2012
The industry levy: £25 million would be a more appropriate target for the annual contribution of the British gambling industry to research and treatment. The new Responsible Gambling Trust, the Gambling Commission, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Committee,...
Read moreSocial Work is Neglecting Problem Gambling
Friday 26 October 2012
Social Work is Neglecting Problem Gambling It is now well established that problem gambling is linked to many individual and social problems including; depression, suicide, significant debt, bankruptcy, family conflict, domestic violence, neglect and maltreatment of children, and offending. One expert...
Read more'Hard' FOBT gambling: alarming and illogical recommendations from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Gambling Watch UK, like others, was waiting with interest to see what this report on the workings of the 2005 Gambling Act had to say about Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs or B2 machines). For a start, the report contains...
Read moreChannel 4 Dispatches puts the spotlight on FOBT machines and betting shops
Tuesday 07 August 2012
The harm being done by the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and the clustering of betting shops in poorer areas came across clearly in last night’s Channel 4 programme. Among other things it cited the estimate, based on analysis of 2010...
Read moreFOBT Machine Gambling Starts to get the Publicity it Deserves
Sunday 29 July 2012
SCHOOL kids as young as 16 are gambling illegally in high street bookies, a Sun investigation has revealed. We sent a team of 16 and 17-year-olds to a dozen shops — and SIX allowed them to use highly addictive gambling...
Read moreThe Expansionist Aspirations of the UK Online Gambling Industry
Monday 25 June 2012
I recently attended a half day seminar on The UK Online Gambling Industry. The seminar was organised by the Westminster eForum which 'aims to provide [an] environment for policymakers in Parliament, Whitehall and regulatory agencies to engage in timely discussion...
Read moreQuaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs Welcomes Gambling Watch UK
Thursday 31 May 2012
Gambling Watch is a welcome addition to the gambling landscape. The last few years have seen many changes as regards gambling: it is now widely advertised on the media, particularly via sporting events and on television - and advertising can...
Read moreLaunch of the Responsible Gambling Trust
Friday 25 May 2012
April 2012 saw the launch of the new body – the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT), which replaces the old Responsible Gambling Fund (RGF). The RGT takes over responsibility for disbursing the funds for gambling treatment and research which are voluntarily...
Read moreThe Saturday Guardian Money Section talks to leading experts
Wednesday 02 May 2012
Two-thirds of patients treated at the UK's first specialist problem gambling clinic have indicated that controversial fixed odds betting terminals encouraged their addiction. Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, who set up the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic in London in 2008, also told...
Read moreHigh Streets First - putting the high street before betting shops
Thursday 12 April 2012
High Streets First is campaigning for a change in the law to give local communities a say over the number of betting shops in their area. At the moment betting shops are classified the same as banks, job centres...
Read moreMission and aims
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Mission Statement Gambling Watch UK is an organisation which is independent of Government and the gambling industry. It exists to question the present policy of support for the expansion of gambling in the UK and to propose alternative policies which would...
Read moreWhy Gambling Watch UK is needed
Friday 10 February 2012
Opportunities for gambling in Britain have increased very considerably in the last 20 years and were given further encouragement with the passing of the 2005 Gambling Act. The latest British Gambling Prevalence Survey, carried out in 2009/10, found that between...
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