The Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s All Party Group (APG) on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling, Philip McGuigan MLA has called for a public health approach to gambling following the publication of the Gambling Prevalence Survey 2024 by the Department for Communities.
Philip McGuigan MLA said: “We need to take a public health approach to gambling related harm. The Gambling Prevalence Survey which has just been published shows just how widespread the problem is here. More people than ever in the north are gambling online. Smartphones mean than everyone has a casino in their pocket and we need to urgently address the harm which can be caused by this.”
“Successive NI Executive health ministers have engaged directly with our All Party Group on the negative impacts which can be caused by gambling, but more needs to be done now. In the last year, 8% of people who gamble have suffered health impacts such as anxiety or stress as a result. Over half of moderate risk or problem gamblers experienced health impacts. It is also having a wider effect on our communities, with one in ten people saying their relationship with someone close had broken down because of someone else’s gambling.”
“We are still relying on gambling legislation from 1985 and the world has fundamentally changed since then. The NI Assembly passed an amendment to this legislation in 2022 which was intended to be the first part of a two phase process. However, we still await the introduction of a levy on the land-based gambling industry which is part of this. We urgently need this to resource the research, education and treatment of gambling harms.”
Robbie Butler MLA Vice-Chair of the APG stated: “There is no NHS commissioned service supporting people who are experiencing harm from gambling in Northern Ireland. We want to see our part of the UK get its fair share of the recently introduced statutory levy on online gambling operators, who are licenced to advertise here by the Gambling Commission, so that resources can be invested into addressing this serious public health issue for people here.”
“In Northern Ireland 3% of people are considered to be problem gamblers. This is slightly lower than the Republic’s figure of 3.3% but higher than the equivalent figure in Britain where it is 2.5%. This reinforces the urgent need for us to invest in public health services here to address the harm being caused by gambling.”
