People who suffer harm from gambling are not weak. They are not unwell because of any so-called vulnerability. They have been sold highly addictive products, designed and promoted to keep them gambling, no matter what. Gambling addiction is a recognised mental health disorder.

Somebody has neglected to tell this to the Lucy Frazer, secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who has rolled out tired industry lines that everyone loves a flutter and just a small number of people are so weak it harms them.

Industry misinformation is writ large in Frazer’s language but in the substance of today’s white paper no amount of misinformation or lobbying was able to stand up to the weight of evidence and public expectation that