The Negligent State: Gambling's Predatory Power and the Failure of Regulation

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - Our research on gambling shows that they are probably the most predatory and corrupt of all the Addiction Economy sectors, since the Labour government decided they were a leisure industry and made a free for all market in 2005.

We are warming to our terminology that it is not a Nanny State which curtails the power and harm of these harmful industries, but a Negligent State which lets companies harm citizens - such as letting the industry decide how much to pay to tackle harms, and who the money goes to - ie industry funded bodies who find gambling isn't as bad as everyone says. It's laughable!

"Labour is understood to be poised to rubber-stamp the previous government’s proposal to do away with a voluntary system that allows industry operators to choose how much to donate to tackle damage caused by gambling and which organisations should receive the money."

Having lobbied hard and said it would be 'a “backward step” that would have no impact on gambling-related harm', the sector has conceded.

Lots more to do on this sector, particularly the digital gambling areas and specific addictive design techniques of products.