An MLA who lost more than £100,000 playing online poker is among those calling for gambling addiction to be treated as a public health issue. Sinn Féin‘s North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan told us that he had never visited a betting shop but took up gambling later in life due to the easy access to online sites.

Philip began playing poker with friends and quickly found himself playing online, where he lost large sums of money and, over the course of eight years, lost more than £100,000 due to his gambling addiction, which resulted in him remortgaging his house, taking out loans and racking up large amounts of credit card debt.

Now in recovery, Philip is the chair of the All-Party Group on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling, and on Tuesday, he, along with representatives of Stormont’s five main parties, will bring a motion calling on the Health Minister to treat gambling addiction as a public health issue similar to alcohol and tobacco addiction.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Philip McGuigan said that the most recent statistics from 2016 show that two per cent of people in Northern Ireland suffer from gambling-related harm.

“That is 40,000 individuals, and other statistics show that each person who suffers from gambling harm impacts six other people, whether that is family, friends, their spouse, employers etc., so this is a major issue here in the North, and it hasn’t been given the same public health priorities that other dangerous, addictive products have such as tobacco and alcohol.

“Both of those substances are treated on a community-wide, societal-wide basis in terms of how the Executive and government agencies approach those products.

“Essentially, what this motion is about from the APG on Gambling Related Harm comes from an enquiry that we conducted into this issue and concluded a very thorough report. We want a public health approach here in the North with regard to gambling on the same basis as tobacco and alcohol products.”

Reflecting on his own battle with gambling addiction, Philip said that he realised early on that he had a problem but that there wasn’t much help available.

“There are no dedicated facilities here in the North to treat gambling addiction, and that is something that needs to be addressed. We don’t have a facility, we don’t have proper statistics to elicit the nature of harm, and we don’t have ongoing education facilities, so we need more facilities, more help and more education in relation to that.

“I have my own experience, and to be truthful, I knew reasonably early in my gambling journey that it was a problem. I didn’t start gambling until late in life, but, unfortunately, as is the nature of addiction, the thing that is harming you most is the thing that you struggle to leave behind.

“Anybody out there who is struggling with addiction will know that it is a really destructive illness to have, and it is also an extremely difficult illness to recover from.”

As MLAs are preparing to bring this motion to the Assembly, the Communities Minister will also bring a motion on the same day which seeks to increase the stakes and prize money available in bingo clubs and gaming machines in licensed premises.

When asked if he thought this motion from the Minister was counterproductive to the work that the APG is doing, Philip said that he was reluctant to criticise the minister as our legislation is “totally inadequate”.

“The legislation doesn’t take into account how most people now gamble which is online, through their phones, through laptops, through iPads and computers. We are the only juristicion on these islands that doesn’t have legislation in regard to online gambling.

“I accept what the Communities Minister has said in that it is a massive piece of work and we don’t have the time. I do think he can do more, and we can see with the issue of stakes on gaming and gambling machines, which many people have described as the crack cocaine of gambling. Young people, in particular, need to be protected from that, so I would like to see stakes reduced, I would like to see the frequency of bets reduced, and I would like to see the prizes reduced. There are many other actions that the Minister can take in regard to land-based premises, and my colleague Dierdre Hargey did take action in the last mandate that allowed a levy to be placed on land-based gambling operators, which provided much-needed assistance around help and education.

“On the APG we have also written to the British Government to request a share of the money from their levy with regard to online as we have a juisticional problem where the Gambling Commission in Britain doesn’t have authority here but customers here are playing online and we thing we should be benefitting from that levy.

“I don’t want to be too critical of the Minister, and I think that he is genuinely across this issue, and the regulatory issue that is coming up tomorrow is separate from our motion. We expect the Minister, who has just produced a draft code, we want to see that strengthened, we want to see departments strengthening the law and monitoring the draft code of practice for gambling premises here and we want to see a proper levy in place.”

Philip said that the APG recognises that this will be a long-term project, but they are hoping to see the Health Minister agree that gambling addiction is a public health issue and that cross-departmental work will be done to tackle it.

“This is an issue that covers health, justice, communities and education. We want to see a task force produce a report on how exactly a public health approach would look and who would have shared responsibilities for moving this forward,” he finished.

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