A former gambling addict from Stockport has said he believes recently announced reforms to tackle gambling are a ‘step in the right direction’.
The Government’s proposals include new stake limits for online slot games, player protection checks and a statutory gambling operator levy, which would help fund treatment services and research into addiction.
The plans also include further powers by the Gambling Commission to tackle black market operators, new rules for bonus offers and free bets to ensure they don’t harm vulnerable people and the closing of a number of loopholes to ensure under 18s cannot gamble online or through slot machines.
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David Quinti, 48, estimates he’s lost £30,000 over the years due to gambling. David, who was able to quit gambling eight years ago, said his occasional bets on football matches quickly turned into an intense addiction online.
He only sought help for his addiction when his son, then aged eight, saw him gambling on an iPad at home one day and asked him to stop. He is now a member of GambleAware’s lived experience council and also an ambassador for GamCare.
Speaking of the Government’s plans to tackle gambling addiction, David, who lives in Stockport, said he believed it was a ‘step in the right direction’ but hoped that gambling advertising could also be tackled in the future to make people aware of whether they are gambling safely or are in need of help.
“Advertising draws people in with the colours and the opportunities and the excitement,” David explained. “I don’t think there needs to be a total ban but the ads need to be targeted more towards being safe. At the minute it feels like it’s a tick box.”
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said on Thursday (April 27) that the Government is “bringing our pre-smartphone regulations into the present day with a gambling White Paper for the digital age” and believed the proposals would "force companies to step up their checks" to protect vulnerable customers.
Ms Frazer told MPs: "When gambling becomes addiction, it can wreck lives. Shattered families, lost jobs, foreclosed homes, jail time, suicide.
"Gambling problems in adults have always been measured in terms of money lost, but you cannot put a cost on the loss of dignity, the loss of identity, and, in some cases, the loss of life that it can cause."
Colin Walsh, 45, from Sheffield, also welcomed the proposals. He said he gambled to levels that would be seen as problematic for close to 20 years and has been free of the problem for a decade.
Colin, who is now lived experience manager at GamCare, said he believes that gambling advertising in sport will one day be banned. “I am sure that within my lifetime gambling advertising in sport will not be allowed. I think it could go further but at the same time any steps to reducing it is really recognition of the harm caused and steps in the right direction.
“I’m old enough to look back and remember tobacco advertising in sport so there’s a precedent for it.
“I think we will look back and think ‘we can’t believe this was allowed to happen’. I think that’s the direction things are going.”
Mr Walsh, who in his last month of gambling placed more than 9,000 bets with one operator, staking close to £1 million, added that he wanted to ensure the message is clear that people who are having problems with gambling can get help and recover.
He said: “Support is out there and people can get better, and I don’t think we hear enough of that.”
The National Gambling Helpline, operated by GamCare, received the highest number of contacts for any month on record in March, with advisers citing how the cost of living is impacting callers.
In total, 3,996 calls and online chats were made across the month, a 23% increase compared with the same time period last year.
Anyone in need of help can call free on 0808 8020 133 or visit the website.
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