Shortly after calling for an increase in Category B Machine Gaming Duty, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) is now suggesting major reforms to the UK’s public health policies where problem gambling is given the same priority as alcohol-related harm, substance abuse and smoking cessation.
According to the think-thank, current problem gambling services are a post factum phenomenon in their majority across the UK. Therefore, the central government and local authorities as an extension to that central power must take a different approach, equipping first responders with questions on gambling in patient questionnaires as standard.
SMF’s proposal follows years-long debates in the UK where health experts and politicians have pondered whether gambling should be treated as a public health concern. So far, this rhetoric has failed to find solid ground, as only 2.7% of the adult population has been identified as problem gamblers.
Nevertheless, SMF believes that prevention is key to maintaining..