UK Gambling Levy Call To Be Made Mandatory

A new paper conducted and written by the British Medical Journal says that the gambling industry should have imposed a mandatory tax to fund the effects of gambling addiction.

The new report says that the damage gambling has on society is hugely underestimated and even links gambling to suicide. It calls on the government to implement new laws that will have the gambling industry be responsible for individuals and help stamp out gambling addiction.

It says in the report that currently only £1.5 million is spent in the UK on the prevention of gambling, which equates to just 2pence per capita. However in NewZealand the country spends some £9.5 million which works out to be one hundred times more spent per person.

Currently there is a voluntary levy by gambling operators of 0.1% of revenues to fight gambling related harm, however some operators do not abide by this scheme which should bring in around £14.4 million and the report calls for this to be made a law now that all operators should pay the levy.

“The problem is,” one gambling consultant told the iGaming Post, “it is always the gambling industry that is targeted as the bad guy, what about drinking, smoking and other forms of addiction, they seem to not have anywhere near the focus that the gambling sector does, even though all those other forms of possible addiction can lead to the same problems as thou connected to gambling.”

“However it is right that only some of the gambling operators pay the levy currently agreed and this does need addressing before it is imposed by the government.”