Labour poised to announce £100m levy on gambling companies

Denise paying it all out of her petty cash.

Good news for gamblers then, cure problem gambling and no need for gambling harm groups, thats exactly what the grifters dont want.

Bookies will be happy they've got away lightly - so far!

100M is not enough, but better than nothing. These corperations are super rich. I would of said 500M as a start.

Most bookies laughing all the way to the bank

remember 100M between these guys is pennies.

What about lotteries and scratch cards. Or is that not classed as gambling.

Did UK billy bunters really lose £15.9 billion to gambling companies last year??

Trident, if it's not enough, how exactly are you spending this £100million?

I would of said

MORON ALERT

@hkf

"What about lotteries and scratch cards. Or is that not classed as gambling."

The National Lottery - as such - I don't have any issue with.  I doubt anyone does their nuts playing hundreds of sets of numbers per week.

Scratchcards, on the other hand - how the Lottery was ever allowed to expand into that space - and at a time when they were legally selling to 16yos - is beyond me.

BBC off again with their usual emotive twaddle.
Featuring a father of a guy who I assume killed himself….explaining how when people say ‘just stop’ they don’t understand it’s an addiction.

And unfortunately he doesn’t understand that the first port of call for all addicts is to admit they have a problem, the second is to go and seek the help for that addiction that is available.
But no. Yet again, it’s everyone else’s fault because when this guy’s son apparently had his card rejected and realised he’d done his b ollox yet again that wasn’t a signifier that perhaps….just perhaps he should have done something about it.

Before anyone starts arguing but but but the bookies….yeah that would have come some point after the second port of call being seeking help, a demand that bookies not contact him….but that wouldn’t have stopped the lure of the facilities that exist.
So the remedy apparently is to curb everyone whether they have a problem or not, quality thinking.

This is mandatory (not voluntary). And, 50% to the NHS is wonderful news. The NHS cannot and must not be asked to shoulder the harm engineered by bookies.

Now, ban all post 9pm and late night adverts masquerading as 'GambleAware' advisory prompts on tv. These are subliminal and remind potential customers and players the bookies are open.

I firmly believe the position of the CEO of repeat offenders should be barred from taking up a similar position at any other bookie in the future. A leopard never changes its spots!

Yeah, don’t allow anyone to see what they arn’t allowed to see, decided by those who say which characteristics are protected, however insane they might be.
Because you need to feel guilt and shame, because that’s how people have been controlled over time.
The church did it for millennia. Convincing everyone there is an invisible friend watching everything you do and everything you think because you were born guilty and he’s looking for a reason to torture you….but he loves you (credit George Carlin)

But all those eating jelly donuts freely, they your problem.
Because no body gets sectioned, they just your burden.

Please stick to problem gambling and its ramifications to the NHS, and other social services espeg  the crack cocaine of gambling ie fobt. Even horseracing trainers eg Gosden/Becket/Stoute to name a few despise these highly addictive electronic games which have no place aligning to horseracing or using horseracing a platform for promotion.

And it’s the vast majority who don’t have problems that pay the price for the minority, yet again.
The NHS have far greater problems with diabetes rather than nincompoops who can’t seek help when they can’t stop losing

We have done this over and again. Losers will always find a way to lose, but nobody can say they are losers and need help everyone has to wait for them to decide it.
While the state are happy kicking doors off and imprisoning people criticising their decisions or upsetting other people.

The NHS cannot exist or function as it is. The staff in the NHS mean well, and experienced, but highly unmotivated and wasteful. There's clearly a distinct lack of efficiency and motivation between NHS and Private. It's only a matter of time a levy imposed on manufacturers/retailers of non-healthy convenience foods; the users/customers will eventually be asked to contribute eg targeted NI contribution according to health and NHS usage eg binging/indulgence to convenience/fast food.

The NHS cannot have additional strains on its already humongous financial budgets. Some UK nationals need to accept and assume some personal responsibility, and not heap their selfishness and ill-health onto other UK taxpayers.

We all have choices. Some are just better informed, and exercise prudence; others just plain lazy, carefree and expect the state (NHS) to pay for their inadequacies and shortcomings.

How the fook can you bang on about the NHS as a matter of concern that gambling hardly impacts relative to far greater significant issues from  elsewhere?
Or are you implying although utterly irrational to label gambling as its greatest problem, it’s just one of many freedoms that have to go in sanitising society to the extent only legitimate illnesses like old age can be treated?

You say people need to excercise prudence….yet nothing whatsoever is used to educate those so daft as to blow all their food money on gambling, because they are that daft and none of these remedies changes that fact.
As ever the minority issues get waved through because they are minority issues

While it’s a tried and tested mechanism of restriction on the general public

And btw
In clearly referring to restrictions here, what the level of financial punishment is on the bookies is of little concern to those with no gambling problems
But restricting them has.

Oh those poor bookmakers it's such a shame.

Gambling is clearly an emotive issue for some here ie it's subjective. The burden on the NHS is humongous as it is without  the issues that fobt brings and promotes. The betting industry esp online bookies where the majority of their profits derive from should be held responsible and taxed (direct and indirect) accordingly; the persistent rise in problem gambling over the last two decade esp since the inception of fobt must be stopped immediately eg ban all gambling adverts by bookies esp on tv, online and mobile. The last two named are mega platforms used by school children and young adults.

Addiction is a complex subject. It's a mind-game, an illness. It affects individuals differently. The negative consequences are the same just differing in the seriousness and effectiveness.

Emotion and gambling cannot and must not mix. A deadly cocktail, if so.

And just look at how contrived it is to never ever ever blame the individual.
They are nothing but drones that have no thought in their heads nor responsibility for their action
Because they are used as the weapon that restricts all those who do act responsibly.

It’s not actually about gambling, like I said it’s just one of the areas where in supposed support of the minority, the majority are incovienienced

It’s consistent through out all these issues.
Minorities good, majorities bad
The exact opposite of democracy….and when we get lectures about DEI we are told we have to take skin colour into account instead of the ‘content of a person’s character’ the exact opposite of ML King’s statement on racism.

And all the while the remedy does nothing to educate that minority

Bonkers but ironic that you can bet £500 on the turn of a wheel on Crazy Time.

Dear,oh dear ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Should be renamed Living in My Car or Weekend Access Only or Wife Left Me with Just a Rubber Plant

Above post was to dustybin.....

Indeed 'DIE LINKE'. All this at the discretion and say-so of bookies ie unqualified individuals and influenced by personal whims, employer loyalty/job security and end-of-year bonus. The inconsistency is staggering!

Sparrow
Where does, following losers around to find where they lose, restricting everyone on that activity while not educating the loser on why they are losing help anyone?
When the loser is then free to find some other failing they have and round we go again?

The statutory levy will replace the current voluntary system, under which gambling firms decide how much they contribute. At present, the charity GambleAware receives the vast majority of industry funding, collecting £49.5m last year.

While most companies in the sector contribute significant sums, some have been known to pay as little as £1, entitling them to appear on a list of annual donors.

The new levy will be set at a range between 0.1% and 1.1% of revenue, with online businesses expected to pay the higher rate because their costs are lower.

Half will go to the NHS, 30% to those working to prevent harms and the remainder to UK Research and Innovation to fund research.

Both the levy and the slots limit are expected to take effect next year, with online casinos given a grace period to implement the stake cap.

By the way I have no time for the restrictions on punters but am quite happy to see bookmakers to pay their way in society.

Are they going to pay for snatch squads to grab losers and drag them into help?

Ofc they arn’t. The only people who address their issues will be the moderate ones who accept their actions have an impact on outcome…they arn’t the issue, the ones who take responsibility

The ones that don’t will be off finding another way, like toddlers finding fire, or sharp things and an adult leaving them to it just taking all sharp objects or useful things away from those without problems

^
Well you wrote that as I was writing the last comment

So at least we potentially agree on the restrictions….while I’ve already said the fines etc have little impact overall on the majority, they could be anything

'GambleAware' is another cash-cow fronted by individuals having worked for/with betting entities previously. Their allegiance may have switched but still funded and/or indirectly employed by bookies.

A statutory 50% to the NHS is a good start. Personally 75%-90% would have been more applicable and effective given the costs to NHS, legal fraternities, social services, etc.

There's clearly a distinct lack of efficiency and motivation between NHS and Private.

Except of course the private will hoover up the very easy simple procedures and ops - no previous health conditions, being overweight and even family history of......
While the NHS has to do everyone. I wonder why private is more 'efficient'?

A degree of truth in that.

However, there is a visible lack of efficiency and motivation in the NHS. This was from a recent (1st) experience on the NHS eg this is the NHS (from the mouth of a doctor); porter who took me up for a CT scan 2hrs after the doctor's request - he said h'd misplaced his docket.

The NHS is great, just the lack of motivation and inefficiency within the system (from experience).

So this money is to be used for 'research,education and treatment of gambling harms' In other words

it has an agenda,it isn't research. It is already biased. Yet another bunch of busi-body bureaucrats

sticking their noses into our lives.

For balance, will there be research into the positive effects of gambling? For example, as someone

getting on in years who spends many hours studying and analysing horse races, it helps keep the

mind alive. It could well be the case that certain kinds of gambling, that require thought, could

help in preventing or delaying such things as Altzeimers, thereby saving the NHS money!

roggrain, well said. I can certainly second that where my Dad is concerned.

But another £20 million in pay packets for more researchers.

For some reason the NHS seems to be getting a lot of mentions here, surely the cost to them from gambling related issues is miniscule as it is a miniscule percentage of gamblers who have a problem severe enough to require medical interaction?


Perhaps the bureaucrats can introduce a levy on drug dealers which is obviously impossible but makes more sense than pouring money into the pockets of already biased organisations who's findings are nailed on to require further research to keep them employed?

The whole thing makes me see the similarity with moths
Moths getting caught up in the bright light of a bulb
Nothing else matters to the moth, just as the arrogance of the losing punter can’t see the error of their actions and just keep head butting the bulb.

So they get rid of bulbs.

Personally this is rather an easy non-complex predicament or relationship between horseracing and problem gambling. There's only a smidgeon between the two components, and easily resolved.

But, the principal adversary is the bookies in particular their reluctance to admit fobt - their chief money earner and most addictive as culprit; the fobts in high street shops, online and mobile.

The bookies are the rulers - the king and decision makers of fobt and horseracing. Other components have been playing to their tunes including The Gambling Commission over the past 2 decades. If one takes the bookies out of the equation of finding a solution to problem gambling, and only focuses on the remedy problem gambling could be significantly reduced eg ban bookies adverts on tv, online and mobile; introduce a gaming licence for fobt and online games to reflect the digital age; only non-bookie sponsorship of horseracing and programme to promote the sport.

At the moment the costs to society and government from problem gambling is significantly higher than the proceeds from bookies to the Exchequer. More has to be done to reflect this ever-increasing financial discrepancy; the bookies need to pay their fair share relative to their humongous profits generated from fobt.

Tax accordingly and intelligently. The bookies cannot be allowed to dictate to the government. The shareholders of betting entities must not profit at the expense of the state and taxpayers.

@impossible123

"At the moment the costs to society and government from problem gambling is significantly higher than the proceeds from bookies to the Exchequer. "

Which numbers are you using?  A quick Google gave me numbers from Gov't for the cost to the state and society of problem gambling of £1.00bn to £1.77bn and gambling taxation revenue of £3.3bn.

Several factors seem to be leading in the same direction-less horse racing. At age 80 I may not see the demise of horse racing but many of the younger punters will.

I fear you are right sageform.  As the 50+ generation for which horseracing was their gateway to gambling fall off the perch, the numbers interested and playing will fall and the sport will contract.

Gambling is not an addiction.It is the lure of money that is the addiction.

How many punters would continue to gamble if they got a cuddly toy every time they got a winner instead of cash profit.?

There is something about putting down money (even £1) that sets it apart from just choosing a horse. No matter how hard I try, I don't get quite the same buzz from a race I have no bets on although I still enjoy watching races over fences no matter what the class of race or my financial gain or loss.

Ditto sageform , i probably only watch around 5% of flat races and it's no coincidence those are the races i've played , as for jumping i probably watch 95% whether a bet or not.

Which numbers are you using?  A quick Google gave me numbers from Gov't for the cost to the state and society of problem gambling of £1.00bn to £1.77bn and gambling taxation revenue of £3.3bn.


The numbers are not that linear either, as gambling keeps tens of thousands employed (revenue stream for tax collectors), plus what is still a very large industry running (horse racing). Plus multiple ancillary services, catering, veterinary, breeding, sales and the likes. Bookies also fund multiple sports through sponsorship.

It's also not a lot different to many other parts of life, where people fail and subsequently blame someone else for their own failure. A bit like the old 'mis-sold' loan chestnut. So one would be incredibly sceptical about the 'cost to the state' being accurate.

Everyone seems to have the view that there is a mysterious entity called "Them or They" whose job is to protect them from all of the unpleasant things in life such as having to go to work, illness, flooding, crime etc. All organisations from the UN to the EU, UK Government, local authorities, parish councils, charities consist of people just like you and me. They do not have supernatural powers to remove the nasty bits of life. It is up to INDIVIDUALS to look after themselves. The political tide is running against gambling. Most countries do have tighter regulations than us so it is not surprising that the pressure is on bookmakers, casinos etc. to be more responsible.

By the same measure the sociopolitical tide is also against democracy; even the ones that are considered ‘full democracies’ and being dismantled from within while being flooded with people who culturally have no affiliation with it.
Gambling is just a single issue that uses the same method of control over perspective.
They want the majority of those who do it to agree that their actions should be curtailed because there are failures in society who can’t control themselves, they want you to feel shame and guilt in accepting your foibles.

If you don’t have skill you must have discipline. If you have neither you are at the whim of others.
Ever more so as humans struggle to keep pace with technology, until they will all be reliant on it and it will be impossible to better.

This is just the direction society is going in. So all young children get 'free' meals in school because there are people that manage to breed and are not capable of feeding their own (often feral) offspring. Policy is now determined by the lowest common denominator. Which, in my experience, is very low indeed.

True Cider and so of course are safeguards like bank security. It only needs one employee out of hundreds to be dishonest or incompetent for the whole thing to fall over. On the last 3 occasions that we have bought stuff using Amazon Prime, we have had a phone call within hours telling us that our credit card is compromised and £300 has been withdrawn. Clearly a scam but equally clearly the scammer has access to the details of Amazon Prime customers including their landline number and card issuer and when they are active on the site. There is no such thing as a secure website.

If governments try to curtail gambling,crime would go through the roof,people love money and will do anything and i mean anything to get get their hands on .it.Gambling is a legal way of obtaining it.Governments better beware.
if its not broken dont try to fix it.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The current mob in Westminster will hasten the Nanny State exponentially.

They think they know what's best for us without ever fully understanding the subject at hand or the

consequences of their actions.

You're right, brassneck. When I lived in Canada the Govt. had the bright idea of raising tobacco

tax by 40%. Within weeks you could walk into pretty well any pub in the centre of town and find a

bloke selling black market cigs at half the price.