A man who racked up debts of £100,000 through gambling has accused ministers of “doing nothing” to crack down on harmful advertising.
Richard Bayliss, 43, who lives in Bromyard, Herefordshire, said he was “extremely disappointed” with the Government’s white paper, which has also been criticised by campaigners and health professionals.
The software engineer is in recovery after decades of problem gambling. He first began visiting bookies in the 1990s before moving onto online gambling platforms.
Since then he has accumulated debts of £100,000, and blames his gambling for the end of his long-term relationship.
Asked about the Government’s proposed measures, he told i: “I don’t think it goes far enough. Tackling advertising is the thing that would really help. You can’t avoid it – it’s 24/7. Whenever I switch on the radio or the TV, it just seems to be gambling everywhere. It doesn’t feel like they’ve done anything.
“They’re doing this in other countries – to see the Government do nothing about it here is extremely disappointing. It’s hard to realise I’m still going to have to put up with this every time I switch on the TV.”
The gambling white paper, published on Wednesday, includes a raft of new proposals including limiting stakes to £2 to £15 on slot machines, background checks on those who are losing £10,000 a day, and a mandatory levy on gambling firms to pay for treatment for gambling addiction.
The long-awaited new regulations have been delayed four times and were first announced by MP Oliver Dowden in 2020.
The Culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said that the regulations were “suitable for the digital age.” However, many of the details in the white paper are still subject to consultation, meaning that it could be some time before they are implemented.
Matthew Gaskall, a consultant psychologist and clinical lead for the NHS Northern Gambling Service said: “It is very weak on advertising, marketing and sponsorship of our national sports, and setting affordability checks only if £1000 are lost in 24 hours is outrageously high.
“Most of the important measures will be put out to consultation when the Government has enough evidence to act now.”
Anna Hennings, CEO of Gambling Care added: “We welcome the proposals, but there are far too many people who still need our support. We’d like to see the consultation launched in a timely manner, because until we do, we do not know how it’ll affect our users.”