Gambling companies accused of using big tobacco’s tactics in push for weaker regulations

Gambling company signage at horse races in Melbourne. Academics from Australia, the UK and Africa have said there is ‘ample evidence to show the significant negative health and social consequences of gambling’. Photograph: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

A dozen public health experts have accused gambling companies of replicating the tactics of big tobacco by funding research into the harms they cause while lobbying governments to soften regulation.

The academics have co-written an editorial, published in the journal Health Promotion International, urging governments to approach wagering companies in the same way they deal with the tobacco industry, due to harms associated with gambling addiction.