MPs urge Government to consider making Directors of Public Health responsible authority on planning and licensing applications for gambling establishments

The call came in a letter sent to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) following an evidence session that the committee held on gambling related harms, and a meeting some of its MPs held with charity Gambling with Lives.

The letter read: “While much of the evidence we heard focused on advertising and online gambling, we also heard evidence about the challenges posed by some forms of land-based gambling.

“We welcome the Government’s decision to pause changes to the regulation of the proportion of different types of machines that can be hosted in adult gaming centres. However, we are concerned by the concentration of land-based gambling establishments in areas of high deprivation and the challenge that some local authorities have had challenging planning applications due to unequal resources.

“Local authorities have a key role to play in preventing gambling-related harms and in regulating physical gambling activity through their licensing function.”

The letter asked that the DHSC “set out what support it is providing to local authorities to discharge this role” and recommended that it consider making Directors of Public Health a responsible authority.

Also in the letter the committee recommended that the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities work with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Advertising Standards Agency to review the current regulation of gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

“Given the strong evidence we heard about the impact of advertising, we do not see how OHID can effectively develop a strategy to prevent gambling related harms without considering the regulation of advertising and broader commercial practices of the sector,” it said.

The MPs said the review “should focus on identifying interventions to reduce the visibility and accessibility of (a) adverts for more dangerous products, and (b) adverts aimed at children and other vulnerable people”.

The letter also called for a review of the Gambling Act to ensure that the current legislative framework “gives all agencies the power and responsibilities needed to deliver a total system response” to preventing gambling-related harm.