The British gambling regulator, the Gambling Commission, is rarely in the news as it has been lately on account of possible use of insider information by Conservative election candidates and others betting on the election date just before it was announced. It’s a pity we don’t hear more about the Commission and other parts of the gambling establishment that help maintain the modern gambling industry that damages so many lives and extracts wealth from poor communities. The outgoing government was about, after unacceptably long delay, to institute some, mostly minor, reforms.
Can we hope for more decisive action, reducing the amount of gambling advertising for example, from the incoming Labour government? They would have an opportunity to make up for the damage New Labour did by liberalising gambling in Britain so wholeheartedly in the early 2000s.