A North London council has teamed up with a cross-party think tank in order to measure “the real social and economic impact” of areas densely populated by gambling sites.
It is hoped the results of the research can push for changes to the current regulations around gambling and prevent more residents from “stepping into a cycle of addiction and financial ruin”.
Brent Council is working alongside Social Market Foundation to look into how local authorities could be empowered to better understand and tackle the harms caused by gambling. Companies have been accused of disproportionately targeting more deprived areas with more venues and “targeting the most vulnerable” communities.
Brent Council is running an ongoing campaign to lobby the government to change “outdated legislation” and give local authorities more powers to reject applications. It has now commissioned Social Market Foundation to carry out a full review of the current rules and regulations, with the aim of proposing changes to help the harder hit areas of the borough, like Harlesden and Willesden Green.
In Harlesden, there is a cluster of seven gambling premises within a short walk of one another, as well as over a dozen more on a short stretch of Wembley High Road. The council said this clustering is opening the door to more residents becoming addicted.
Every high stakes slot machine in Britain pulls in around £32,000 every year, according to a recent investigation into the industry by BBC Sounds, that’s nearly as much as the average local salary. Brent is home to some of the most deprived areas in England, with the median household income in Stonebridge ward at £37,977 – significantly below the London average of £59,000 but with a disproportionate number of gambling sites in the nearby area.
The number of slot machine venues has risen by 7 per cent since 2022, with weak planning and licensing laws enabling companies to swamp Britain’s high streets with adult gaming centres (AGCs), the vast majority of which are open 24 hours a day. According to a recent study by The Guardian, out of 1,452 AGCs analysed, more than half served customers in the most deprived 20 per cent of British neighbourhoods.
Current gambling legislation imposes a legal duty on licensing teams to ‘aim to permit’ new gambling premises, which creates a presumption in favour of approval regardless of local conditions. If a council refuses an application, it can be appealed and, if in the likely event that it loses the appeal, the local authority incurs additional costs.
Continuing its campaign – which has involved leading a coalition of 38 local authorities and mayors to lobby the government for change – Brent Council hopes the involvement of Social Market Foundation will “turbo-charge” the calls for the removal of the ‘aim to permit’ rule and “dispel the myth” that gambling sites support economic growth. It also wants local leaders to have more power to “put public health first” and prevent further harm to some of the most vulnerable people.
Director of the Social Market Foundation, Theo Bertram, said: “The goal of this research and our collaboration with Brent is to measure the real social and economic impact of clusters of Adult Gaming Centres and, where there is evidence of harm, to develop policy recommendations that empower communities to reduce that harm.”
The Gambling Commission has said that, whilst it regulates gambling companies at a national level, every council across the country is “effectively a local regulator” in their communities and responsible for licensing, regulating and inspecting premises. A spokesperson for the body added that local authorities should ensure that money for licence fees should be used for regular inspections of sites as intended.
Leader of Brent Council, Cllr Muhammed Butt, said: “For too long, the house has always won – with big businesses extracting ever more profit from our high streets, while furthering financial addiction amongst their players. Local leaders representing over 12 million people up and down the country agree with Brent that our high streets can do so much better than betting shops and bookmakers.
“Together with Social Market Foundation we will set out the case for changes which put power back in the hands of communities and break the cycle of this gambling epidemic.”
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