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More land gambling venues will bring increased risk of peripheral crime
Joining the UK anti-gambling reportage over the weekend was The Guardian political section, which considered the political motivations behind the British government's decision to reform gambling legislation and regulate rather than prohibit.
Commenting that the plans to make Britain an online gambling centre have yet to be implemented the newspaper reports that already one million people are gambling online, according to the findings of a survey for the Culture Department by Rs Consulting, and up to six million according to the Nielsen/Netratings agency.
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"If they were honest, ministers would accept that gambling must be contributing to the debt which is sinking so many households. The last Gambling Prevalence Survey was conducted in 1999 and a follow-up won't be published until later this year. But even at the turn of the millennium, as many people were addicted to gambling as drugs and all observers think the numbers must have rocketed since the Internet brought 24/7 instant gratification to every gambler's living room," The Guardian report claims.
The newspaper goes on to comment on the forthcoming British Medical Association report by Professor Mark Griffiths and refers to a year old police opinion that more land casinos will allow gangsterism to flourish. It concludes with a warning against government becoming overly dependent on taxes from gambling.
The police report to which The Guardian refers is discussed in depth in The Observer, where investigations editor Antony Barnett has apparently been working in tandem with Channel 4 television producers on a gambling story set to be screened in the UK on 22 January (during the International Casino Exhibition run in Earl's Court, London)
The *secret* police report will be highly embarrassing for Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, claims the Observer pointing out that she promoted the [national gambling reform] plans as being good for the country and is expected to name the site of the country's first super-casino in two weeks' time.
The newspaper claims that the internal police report undermines government pledges that the new casinos would not lead to a rise in crime or problem gambling, particularly among the young, and contains opinion that 'vulnerable' groups could be lured into gambling with a consequent rise in crime and antisocial behaviour.
Apparently a copy of the report was obtained by Channel 4's Dispatches programme and The Observer. It was written by Britain's top police officer responsible for gambling, Detective Inspector Darren Warner of the Metropolitan Police's Gaming Unit, who was asked to submit his views to consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was preparing a study into the social impact of a super-casino at the Millennium Dome. The report is dated March 2006, but has not been made public until now.
Although he gives super-casinos a 'cautious welcome', Inspector Warner opines: '[With] a massive development attracting thousands, or possible hundreds, of people a day there are obvious problems related to that. The biggest contributor to antisocial behaviour problems in the area is not the fact that the premises hold gaming licences, it is the additional fact they will hold liquor licences..."
The police expert discusses the impact of new land casinos, especially following the relaxation of UK drinking laws. His report covers the associated dangers of exposing the young to a casino culture; drunken and anti-social behaviour and the dangers of sex-based attractions.
He is also critical of the government for allowing casinos to accept punters without requiring them to become members.
Warner says: 'The membership rule is to be abolished; this is to be replaced with a requirement for casinos to require positive identification of those who enter casinos. For law enforcement this is insufficient.' Warner insists 'identification' should mean a passport or a driving licence: a requirement that the industry, with the help of ministers, has so far resisted.
The police officer is not enamoured of the recruitment of recently arrived eastern European staff at the casinos, either. 'The industry that prides itself as being "more regulated than the London and New York stock exchanges" ... has a body of employees whose history cannot be checked further back than the day they entered the UK,' his report notes.
The publication of the letter could cause political argument on the contentious subject of gambling, and The Observer quotes Shadow Culture Secretary Hugo Swire, who said: 'It seems extraordinary that such dire warnings from police experts should have seemingly been swept under the carpet.'
** 'Dispatches: Labour's Gambling Addiction' will be shown on Channel 4 at 8pm on 22 January.
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