Against Gambling Reform in the UK

A majority of the public in the UK think gambling reform will do more harm than good according to a new report by YouGov and The Gambling Consultancy.

The survey, conducted by YouGov in May among 2,174 people across Great Britain, found that most people think more harm than good will come from the reforms - despite widespread recognition that the modernisation of gambling laws will bring benefits in the form of jobs and taxes to government.

Three quarters of the public recognise that making it easier for people to gamble will produce a large increase in the amount of money paid to the government in taxes. And five out of ten people think new casinos will bring more jobs to an area. However, half of the public are not persuaded that making it easier for people to gamble and for casinos to attract customers will boost UK tourism, or that the gains generally will outweigh the losses.

Three quarters of the public think that relaxing gambling laws will produce a 'large increase' in problem gambling. It is this overwhelming concern that prompts more people to agree (64%) than disagree (24%) that 'relaxing gambling laws will cause more problems (in terms of the increase in problem gambling) than benefits (in terms of increased tax receipts paid to Government)'.

Women and the elderly are most likely to think relaxing laws will do more harm than good. Even a majority of gamblers think there will be more problems than benefits: six out of ten people that have gambled via one mode or another in the last 7 days agree with the statement.

YouGov conducted the research between the 4th and 14th May 2004 and administered the survey online. These results pertain to a sample representative of the GB population as a whole.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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