Gambling Harms Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Grahame Morris
Main Page: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)Department Debates - View all Grahame Morris's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Alex Ballinger
I agree that the time to act is now—we need stronger regulations and stronger presence of the health system in our response.
Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. One death is one too many. However, 22.5 million people in this country gamble and enjoy betting safely without any problems, and there are 42,000 employed in betting shops on our hard-pressed high streets. Is it not important that we have regulation that is proportionate in the impact it has on this industry, which is so important to the United Kingdom?
Alex Ballinger
I agree that balance is important, but the situations that hon. Members have described in this debate show that balance is not there at the moment. No one is suggesting banning traditional forms of gambling such as bookmakers, horseracing, lotteries and so on. However, pernicious advertising and harmful online gambling need to be properly regulated, and that is not happening at the moment.