Betting ad ban by council in gambling hotspot

A council in an area where gambling rates are three time the national average is banning betting adverts from its bus shelters and electric display screens.

Blackburn With Darwen Council is introducing the restriction at the same time as joining the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA).

Councillor Damian Talbot said he hoped that gambling advertising would become as unthinkable as tobacco advertising.

Lancashire anti-gambling campaigner Steven Bate said the local authority's action was the "only avenue" they had to affect change on gambling and he hoped other councils would follow suit.

An assessment by academics into the harms of gambling, carried out for the council last year, found rates of gambling-related harm in Blackburn with Darwen were about three times the national average.

Talbot said: "Gambling is an addiction that destroys lives. Its impact is felt just as greatly as addictions to illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

"If you think back 30 or 40 years we had tobacco advertising and stopping it has made a difference in the past - so we can make a difference now.

"For too long, gambling has not been treated in the same way as other addictions because it does not have a direct physical health impact.

"The establishment of online gambling makes work to combat the addiction all the more important."

He said the council's move came at a "critical time" to raise awareness, with major sporting events, such as the Fifa World Cup carrying gambling advertising.

Bate said he hoped all councils would introduce this type of restriction - if they did not have a similar ban.

He said his family moved to the county in the 1950s because his father had a bad gambling habit.

"One of the reasons my mother decided we should move away was to get him away from that gambling culture," he said.

"But now with online gambling and TV advertising it is pervasive."

He added: "The ban is the only avenue the council has."

Last year the council pledged to improve support for problem gamblers following the adoption of a new Gambling Harm Needs Assessment introduced after its collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the University of Sheffield on an in-depth study into the current support available for people who are at increased risk of gambling harms, both nationally and locally.

It highlighted the groups at a higher risk of facing gambling-related harms included young people, those living in disadvantaged areas, and people from non-white ethnic backgrounds.

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