'Children at risk of slot machine addiction', warns gambling expert

13 April 2012

Millions of children will become gambling addicts because ministers are 'naive' about the dangers posed by their casino reforms, one of the world's leading experts warned.

Prof Mark Griffiths hit out at Labour's refusal to ban children from using fruit machines, branding ministers 'extremely short-sighted' about the threat to the under 18s.

In a report sent to ministers, he says the new Gambling Act, due to come into force next September, will pitch a generation of teenagers into a nightmare world of addiction, debt, drugs and crime that could wreck their lives.

The new laws make it perfectly legal for children to play slot machines that take a 10p stake and pay out up to £5.

But Prof Griffiths - Europe's only professor of gambling - warns that Labour ministers are contravening their own pledge to protect the 'most vulnerable' from the effects of their gambling liberalisation.

In a hard-hitting submission to the Culture Department's consultation on the Act, seen by the Daily Mail, he reveals that childhood gambling addictions start on the so-called 'Category D' £5 jackpot machines.

Prof Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, told the Daily Mail: 'The Gambling Act could still have detrimental consequences for some of the next generation of teenagers.

'The Government says it wants to protect the most vulnerable from the dangers of gambling but they seem naive about the threat posed by slot machines. If they are serious, they must stop children playing machines that can put some of them on the road to addiction.

'Category D slot machines are often the first rung on the problem gambling ladder that and is often associated with drug use, crime and academic failure.

'It is extremely short-sighted to cling to the view that these slot machines are acceptable because they do not cost much to play. You can lose large amounts of money very quickly.

'For some, the dangers of fruit machines will only grow as the liberalisation of casinos provides young people with more opportunities to gamble with higher stakes and for bigger jackpots'

Britain is already the only western country that allows children to gamble.

In his submission, Prof Griffiths writes: 'Gambling is an adult activity and legislation should be introduced which restricts gambling to adults only. Allowing children to play on such machines is in clear breach of the Gambling Act's licensing objectives when it comes to protecting children.' Prof Griffiths says one in 25 of all juvenile crimes are 'slot machine related' and blames fruit machines for 'delinquency, alcohol and substance abuse, poor school performance, theft and truancy'. He goes on: 'Fruit machine addiction causes the individual to engage in negative behaviour such as truanting in order to play the machines, stealing to fund machine playing, borrowing or the using of lunch money to play the machines and in some cases aggressive behaviour.' The paper cites academic research showing that even on fruit machines with a 10p stake 'players spend approximately £3 every ten minutes' or around £30 an hour. Most seriously, Prof Griffiths warns: 'When people gamble as adolescents, they are then more likely to become problem gamblers as adults. Adolescents are more susceptible to problem gambling than adults and that almost all problems stem from slot machine gambling.' The claims are just the latest blow to the credibility of the Gambling Act, which is mired in controversy about the location of Britain's first supercasino. Ministers have been accused of favouritism after it emerged that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott accepted hospitality and a cowboy outfit from Philip Anschutz, the billionaire who wants to build a supercasino at the Millennium Dome. Prof Griffiths' credentials are impeccable. He has published 170 research papers and two books on gambling and acted as a consultant for the Gambling Board for Great Britain, the Home Office, the Department of Culture and the Department of Health. He has also served on the boards of Gamblers Anonymous and is a former National Chair of Gamcare, a charity that helps problem gamblers. He says 'There is little doubt that fruit machines are potentially addictive. In the past ten years, fruit machines have been the predominant form of gambling by pathological gamblers treated in self-help groups and professional treatment centres across Europe. Every year, between a third to half of all calls to the GamCare helpline in the UK are from slot machine gamblers.' Shadow Culture Secretary Hugo Swire said: 'This government continue to push through gambling reform without considering the impact on the most vulnerable in society. Tessa Jowell assured Parliament that protecting children was the number one aim of their new gambling laws, yet we continue to see young people being effected by problem gambling. 'It is concerning to discover fresh evidence that children might be further at risk, and we do have to ask why this government is so intent on promoting gambling at every opportunity.' Prof Griffiths' fears are endorsed by the Methodist Church and the Salvation Army. In a joint briefing note the two groups say: 'Britain is the only Western country which allow children, of any age, to gamble.The Government agrees that children and young people under 18 should not be allowed to gamble, clearly stating that "gambling and chilsdren don't mix". Yet under the Gambling Bill children and young people are not banned from using Category D machines.' The groups want slot machines removed from Category D, which also includes amusement arcade games like toy cranes and soft toy 'grabbers' or 'penny falls' machines. Don Foster, the Liberal Democrat culture spokesman, said: "This provides further evidence for the Gambling Commission to get on an obtain further research on the wider issues of problem gambling, including the impact on young people. The current Government figures on this are woefully out of date.' A Culture department spokeswoman said: 'Will we carefully consider Professor Mark Griffiths' response to the consultation, as we will all other consultation responses. 'During the passage of the Bill Ministers considered all the independent evidence available concerning children gambling and decided that the case for a total ban was not proven. However, the Gambling Act will see the removal of over 6,000 fruit machines from chip shops and taxi offices where children can play them unsupervised and will also see stakes and prizes significantly reduced. 'We will carefully monitor the impact of these machines and will not hesitate to use our reserve powers if there's evidence that these machines are causing harm to children.'

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in