Scottish MSP Kenneth Gibson has called for a new tax on gambling for gambling firms operating in Scotland, to help gambling addicts.
The SNP member said, “It is simply not acceptable for gambling firms to make a fortune in profits from the Scottish people while ignoring their social responsibility to help educate people of the dangers of gambling and contribute to the treatment of gambling addicts.”
It has been estimated that Scottish gamblers lose roughly £350 million a year in bookmakers and on the Internet alone excluding casinos, bingo halls and the National Lottery. The £350 million figure is double it was in 2001 when gambling tax was scrapped.
The UK Gambling Act of 2005 encouraged gambling firms to pay voluntary contributions into a fund to support gambling addicts. So far however, not all gambling operators have contributed and only half of the expected £4 million has been raised. Some senior gambling executives have urged other operators to contribute or be hit with compulsory taxation.
Kenneth Gibson has said the Scottish parliament should have the power to make the taxation compulsory and has written to Westminster to allow this to happen. He believes the voluntary levy has not been adhered to by many companies and isn’t enough.
Scotland has a higher percentage of people with a gambling problem than the rest of the UK, according to research by the Gambling Commission. The overall UK rate is 0.6 percent of the population, in Scotland it is 0.8 percent.
The Gambling act has given gambling operators increased flexibility to do business in the UK, what with televison advertisements for bookmakers and poker rooms now being allowed. A Professor has stated that this flexibility has caused a rise in gambling culture in the UK, most notably in Scotland.
Professor Leighton Vaughn Williams of Nottingham Business School said, “The advent of the National Lottery had a lot to do with de-stigmatising gambling. Cable TV, with more sport screened so people can bet while a match or race is on. Problems with gambling must be addressed directly. You do have some people who have problems with gambling. But you don’t solve the problem by shutting your eyes to it; you solve it by regulating the industry.”
Remember it can be great fun to gamble, but do so sensibly.
