Memorandum from Mr Derrick Hill (DGB 1)
1. A Draft Gambling Bill has recently been
published which specifies the objectives of:
"(a)
preventing gambling from being a source of
crime and disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or
being used to support crime;
2. Further the Draft Bill proposes a Gambling
Commission which shall aim:
"(a)
to pursue, and wherever appropriate to have
regard to, the licensing objectives; and
(b)
to permit gambling, in so far as the Commission
thinks it reasonably consistent with pursuit of the licensing
objectives"
3. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on
the Draft Gambling Bill undertook a site visit to Great Yarmouth
on 1 December 2003 to learn about the local issues concerning
gambling—this note describes one specific personal response
made by Revd. Derrick Hill, Pastor, Park Baptist Church, Great
Yarmouth and Vice-Chair of Governors of Great Yarmouth High School.
4. My first and immediate concern is the
requirement to protect children.
4.1 The visit to Great Yarmouth will have
revealed a significant contrast between:
— the controlled access premises of
local casinos, bingo halls, betting shops etc and
— the open premises of the seafront
arcades.
My concern is the extent to which the latter
act as a honey trap to children of high school age.
4.2 I was interested to read Andrew Kyriakides,
previously General Manager at the Stanley Kings Casino in Great
Yarmouth, quoted in the Eastern Daily Press of 26 November
2003 as saying:
"My mum and dad used to work nights—they
would go out by 7pm. By 7.30pm I would be out with a gang of boys.
We used to run games (of poker) in the Greek and Turkish cafes
around Finsbury Park. I'd start just after 7pm and finish at 7am,
then I'd have a bite to eat and go straight to school. I used
to fall asleep in class, I got caned a lot, the teacher used to
say I'd never get anywhere. But what he didn't know was that I
had what he earned in a week in my pocket"
4.3 My concern is that the slot machine
arcades of Great Yarmouth offer a similar attraction to too many
young people of the town today. Although a £5 prize seems
trivial to an adult, this can be a significant and attractive
amount of money to children. High School staff bear witness to
the fact that, in addition to a small number of truants found
in the arcades, too many children appear to spend evenings in
this way rather than in preparing for their examinations—perhaps
especially at ages 14 plus where it is all to easy to give the
impression of being older than you are! We are all concerned at
low academic attainment in the town's schools and perhaps here
lies one of the answers.
4.4 I am concerned that the obligation upon
the Gambling Commission to "permit gambling" and the
exemptions for Category D machines in the Act will override the
aim of protecting children. I would argue that the balance of
the Act in this respect needs to be adjusted.
4.5 In the town's present open arcades,
the "Category D" machines act as a hook, drawing young
people on to the "over 18" machines as soon as they
can. High School staff have confirmed that they have seen children
aged no more than 16 years operating the latter machines and the
present licensing supervision is inadequate in capacity to prevent
this.
4.6 I have a further concern that the congregating
of vulnerable young people around the bright lights of the seaside
town's amusement arcades acts as a corridor through which those
same young people become involved in wider anti-social behaviour
including the prevalent drug scene and illicit sexual activities.
A friend of mine who is a retired police inspector from the town
confirms this link.
4.7 The challenge for the town is to offer
positive experiences and role models for our young people which
will draw them into playing a full part within their communities.
There is nothing in the Draft Bill which would assist the local
community in this regard.
5. My second area of concern is that of
gambling addiction with its impact upon family life.
5.1 This is an issue which was acknowledged
in the Government's 2001 Gambling Review which referred to such
dangers as depression, serious suicide thoughts, divorce, debt,
poverty and crime—although of these only crime is mentioned
in the purposes of the Draft Bill.
5.2 My own family has been affected by the
activities of a compulsive gambler who used slot machines to such
an extent that it led to debt, repossession of the family home,
psychiatric disorder, and family breakdown with devastating effect
upon the wife and children—but not crime.
5.3 I know that this was not an isolated
situation. The Gamblers Anonymous website (5 March 2002) included
a quote from "Nick" who explained "I have done
all the bad things and spent 20 years working 100 hours a week
to fund an insidious compulsive addiction. I lost my pride and
my dignity, I almost lost my family and I am bankrupt". I
am aware of another similar situation in Great Yarmouth just now.
5.4 Under the terms of the Draft Bill such
non-crime situations, however frequent, would apparently not be
within the terms of reference of the Gambling Commission. I would
argue that a Government that rightly extols the virtues of family
life should ensure that any gambling which might have an adverse
impact upon family life should be a matter of concern for the
Gambling Commission. In other areas of addiction the government
does take action—eg requiring "health and smoking"
messages on cigarette packets and making hard drugs illegal—and
it is unacceptable that this Draft Bill does not mention this
aspect in its core aims.
5.5 Whilst the Draft Bill does mention the
issue of "other vulnerable persons" this term is commonly
used mainly to refer to those of limited mental ability—whereas
the compulsive gambler comes from across the spectrum of society.
There seems no reason to believe that any increase in gambling
opportunities will not have the effect of increasing the number
of people whose families are destroyed by this activity. Further
research in this area would be appropriate before any liberalisation
occurs.
6. Thirdly I have some concern about the
economic benefits predicted for towns that develop their gambling
industries.
6.1 Great Yarmouth is a family holiday resort
in which many small businesses are dependent upon the passing
trade of holiday visitors. By contrast experience elsewhere is
that new gambling opportunities are developed by integrated companies
who offer accommodation, leisure and gambling facilities within
a single complex so that their visitors spend entirely within
the complex and have no need to visit the remainder of the town.
If this is the case for new Great Yarmouth developments, then
it is likely that the proceeds of gambling will enrich large multi-national
companies rather than local enterprises. Potentially more money
will leave this town rather than come into it.
7. My final concern is the extent to which
the other great gainer from gambling is likely to be the government
in terms of its tax revenues. This fact alone causes me to question
the motives of those who are legislating for liberalisation!
7.1 My experience here mainly concerns the
National Lottery. It is interesting that when speaking to people
about their financial difficulties, it is commonplace for those
in greatest need to have a deep desire to protect their expenditure
on Lottery purchases—one lady this week who is on benefit
whilst grappling with a £5,000 debt said "I'd better
go and buy a Lotto ticket so that I can pay off my debt!".
I understand that there is considerable evidence that such low
level gambling is undertaken more than proportionately by low
income households.
7.2 The Committee will know that Great Yarmouth
suffers considerably from socio-economic deprivation—and
also that special measures have had to be taken because a relatively
low proportion of Lottery grants are being received in the town.
In this respect the Lottery acts as a kind of regressive taxation—taking
from the poor to fund more affluent areas—and I suspect
that the number of betting shops in the town mean that this is
true in other areas of gambling as well.
7.3 I fully recognise that taxation policy
is beyond the scope of the Draft Gambling Bill—but I would
argue that the government's opportunity for economic gain might
be one of the driving forces for the Bill's introduction. I would
urge the committee to seek an explicit assessment of the social
costs of the proposed changes as illustrated elsewhere in this
note so that this can be seen against the opportunities for increased
income.
8. I would urge the Committee to seek changes
in the current proposals in order to address these concerns.
December 2003
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