How Glasgow is tackling gambling harms

In this article, Glasgow City Council outline their efforts to tackle problem gambling at the local level. Since gambling’s effective deregulation in 2005, the city has had to grapple with a public health crisis, made worse by the proliferation of online gambling.

The announcement last week by the UK Government to bring forward a statutory levy on gambling is welcome after many years of concerns being raised and work on this issue by local government. Glasgow has been at the forefront of this.

The long overdue action goes some way to remedying the blight on communities since gambling was effectively deregulated in 2005, with successive governments content to sit back and see profits roll in whilst a public health crisis took hold, which has led to many deaths.

Glasgow is particularly badly affected by gambling harms. The city has more bookmakers than anywhere in the UK outside some areas of London. Based on national figures, it is estimated 1 in 15 residents may have a gambling problem, approximately 45,000 people. As is the case elsewhere, these cluster in the most deprived areas and disproportionately affect disadvantaged people.

Glasgow has long recognised and prioritised gambling as a public health issue as confirmed in the city’s 2022-2027 strategic plan. A key milestone in taking this forward was a development day held in my ward, Shettleston, in August 2019 for elected members of Glasgow’s Wellbeing, Empowerment, Community and Citizen, which I previously chaired.

Inputs from the Scottish Public Health Network presented findings from on preventing and reducing gambling harms within the city, whilst Glasgow University highlighted evidence of the clustering of “environmental bads” such as alcohol, fast food, tobacco, and gambling outlets in more deprived areas of Glasgow, and evidence that links increased availability of health-damaging goods and services is related to an increase in corresponding unhealthy behaviours.

We view gambling as not only a scourge on many different social groups including young men and increasingly, women and children, but also local communities where there is a proliferation of “environmental bads” such as gambling fuelled by poverty and acting as a driver of widening health inequalities, which needs urgently addressed.

The Scottish Health Survey 2021 found that an estimated two percent of people living in the least deprived areas have or are at risk of having gambling problems, compared to 11% of people living in the most deprived areas.

We also recognise how access to gambling has taken advantage of technology. Recent decades have seen the rise of online gambling, which has led to an expansion of harms. Most of us have ‘a casino in our pocket’. Glasgow’s most recent School’s Health and Wellbeing Survey found that 25% of senior phase pupils said that they had spent some of their own money on gambling activities in the last month.

In Scotland, local authorities regulate gambling at a local level. However, the wording of the Gambling Act 2005 hinders the implementation of meaningful progressive policies in Scotland. From June 2021 (to present), Glasgow participated in a COSLA pilot with three other local authorities to collaborate on better systems and service responses and share best practices.

As Chair of the Glasgow Gambling Harms Multi-Agency Group – which includes membership from the Council, Glasgow HSCP, Glasgow Life, Glasgow Council for Voluntary Sector, Health and Social Care Alliance, Glasgow University and Public Health Scotland – I have led on a whole systems approach involving a range of stakeholders including most importantly people with lived experience.

Particular note and praise must go to a local community interest company, The Machine Zone, which has worked with many others to raise awareness of gambling harms, challenge stigma and campaign for reforms to reduce gambling harms as exampled by their Glasgow City Gambling Harms and Gambling Watch Scotland. Following my successful motion in June 2023 highlighting the launch of a city-wide whole systems local action plan to prevent and reduce gambling harms, they were invited to the City Chambers to show their ‘One Last Spin’ video resource, which was then promoted as a resource for Community Councils and other local groups.

A range of funded projects been invested in across the city, from Glasgow Women’s Centre who found shocking insights into desperate gambling behaviour and women’s financial security and Simon Community Scotland who have skilled up their workforce to recognise the links between gambling and homelessness and recovery communities.

So, what next for Glasgow?

We refreshed the Council Gambling Workforce Support Policy and are committed to ongoing work to raise awareness of gambling harms and develop support and treatment for communities. Our Glasgow Gambling Harms Multi-Agency Group will continue to seek to influence the UK Government to ensure that they design and deliver funding that is proportionate and fair and invest in those local communities where there is a proliferation of ‘environmental bads’ such as gambling fuelled by poverty and equitable funding comes to Glasgow.

As Glasgow’s lead on addressing gambling harms, I have written to the Minister for Gambling welcoming the long overdue levy and as stated in my motion, how “Glasgow’s track record of a whole systems approach involving researchers, stakeholders and people with lived experience sets it apart and that due to this, Glasgow is best positioned as a city to develop a UK centre of excellence in addressing gambling harms, to fund research, education and treatment of gambling harms”.