Baroness Benjamin
Main Page: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Gambling: Addiction
Baroness Benjamin Excerpts
Baroness Benjamin (LD)
My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate to highlight the fact that the number of young people taking their lives because of gambling addiction is becoming a disastrous epidemic. For many years now Odds/Off has advocated change regarding young people and gambling because research shows a direct correlation between young people’s mental health and well-being and gambling.
It is not rare for university students to fall victim to gambling addiction. We do not have the true statistics because a lot of students are embarrassed. Some tell their parents, who pay off their debts in secret to avoid outsiders’ judgment. Some decide that life is just not worth living any more because they have spent all they have on gambling. The Gambling Commission has said that if the results are reflected across the UK, just over 100,000 students may be in some form of gambling debt. The gambling culture in universities is huge, yet it is treated as harmless. Those involved with Odds/Off have seen it first-hand. Just recently, one student told it about how they gambled with their rent and lost it all. Students are struggling financially due to further education costs. So what do they do? They desperately try to make more money, so they turn to gambling, which they see as an easy form of making money, but we all know that in reality there is only one winner: the gambling companies. Anxiety and stress cloud judgment and before students know it, they are problem gambling themselves into devastating debt. So many students have gone down this path. One casino in Leeds is less than 200 yards from student accommodation. It is no coincidence that its bright lights can be seen from the windows of the students’ accommodation. The “Victoria Derbyshire” programme found that one of the UK’s biggest casino brands, Grosvenor Casinos, runs a student poker league and offers free drinks and student discounts at casinos. Betting apps on mobile phones make it even easier for students to spend their entire bank balance in bed while nursing a hangover. This is not a rare occurrence.
A large majority of addicts start gambling aged between 11 and 16. Many problem gamblers start gambling at this age and do not fully understand the seriousness and reality of this dependency until it is too late. Gambling addiction devastates lives under the radar and is extremely embarrassing, especially for pre-teens and teenagers in secondary school. Having no income can force pupils into stealing for a stake and encourages out-of-character actions that will have a negative impact on home and school life.
How can we stop this? To start, as a gesture to show that they are serious, the Government should immediately reconsider their decision and bring forward the date on which the maximum fixed-odds betting stake is lowered to £2. Awareness of the life-threatening effects of gambling needs to start in secondary schools. There must be more education about this danger, more awareness and abuse prevention. Gambling addition should be given the same level of importance as drugs and alcohol, so PSHE classes should also cover gambling abuse and how to resist temptation. Such a crisis deserves some form of government funding and betting companies should be taxed to fund this service, perhaps by increasing the gambling levy. Odds/Off is doing what it can on very little, but the financial strain may eventually dictate that it cannot sustain its services and continue to make a difference to the well-being of children and young people.
We are dealing with a life-or-death situation. Without funding, services cannot exist. I truly believe that creating awareness at grass-roots level in secondary schools, which is what Odds/Off does, would result in a decrease in gambling-related deaths in young people. It would also prevent mental health disorders, as many cases of anxiety and depression in problem and ex-problem gamblers are brought on because of gambling and leave permanent mental scars. The NHS is already overburdened so let us not add to its weight of responsibilities. Let us put into practice preventive measures to deal with the epidemic of gambling addiction among our young people. This needs our urgent attention.
As I always say, childhood lasts a lifetime, so let us not create a life of misery for children and young people through gambling addiction as they progress into adulthood. We must not stand by and let that happen.