NHS Gambling Addict Clinics

[TVC15]

Recent news is that the Gambling industry big 5 (GVC, Flitter, Stars Group, Bet365 and Hills) have committed 1% of revenue to gambling related harm support groups, to the tune of £100m annually.

For those interested, the gambling commission produce an audit on gambling in the country each year, highlighting the % of people at risk of gambling addiction.

That’s interesting to know.
It remains wrong though that these companies who we all know are British firms are able to relocate their registered offices offshore. I know that this loophole is not just limited to betting firms but it’s still a national disgrace that billion pound companies making hundreds of millions of profits every year and that cause so much harm in society are paying less percentage in tax than a uk small business.

[dandeclaret]

Who is headquartered / registered offshore? And who pays taxes in those countries?

[TVC15]

I thought Betfred, Betfair, Victor Chandler (now Betway I think) to name but a few had all moved their HQs offshore in recent years

[dandeclaret]

Betfred - head office registered in Warrington, licensing HQ for international licensing reasons - Gibraltar.

Betfair, part of Flutter group, Headquartered in Dublin.

Betway similarly licences out of Gibraltar, but as with every gambling company, they will pay taxes on UK sports direct to the UK government. Last year's submission to the tax office for gambling was estimated to be £3bn.

Point of consumption tax is the topic to find out more on this - summary is "In addition, a point of consumption tax (POC) called the remote gaming duty (RGD) of 15% has been introduced by HMRC from 1 December 2014 and is payable on all bets made by UK customers irrespective of where the online operator is located." - 21% will be the POC tax in the near future.

[TVC15]

Dublin is overseas.
Not sure why any company would have anything registered in Gibraltar if it was not in relation to tax benefits.
Virtually all the betting companies moved their online services to Gibraltar - i’m guessing it was nothing to do with the sunshine.
I do know that the laws have been tightened recently but there must be still some benefits ?

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ft.c ... 144feab7de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Bordeauxclaret]

I think they do just like the sun.

Unibet, Sportingbet, redbet etc operate out of Malta.

The sun is clearly the common theme.

[dandeclaret]

Dublin is the head office of the merged business Paddy Power, who in the merger had 52% of the business.

The common reason for Gibraltar is the ease of international licensing for territories outside of the UK. The UK is regulated by it's own entity - the UK Gambling Commission, and taxed point of consumption tax as per the above information. A lot of countries, particularly throughout Europe do not rely on their own country regulations.

[kentonclaret]

The latest estimates put the number of people addicted to gambling in the UK at around 430,000.00 with another 2 million people thought to be at risk.

Definitely an addiction that requires and deserves NHS funding.

[AndrewJB]

If they arent paying taxes in this country they shouldn't be operating in this country. I would have presumed they have to be licenced, so surely that comes with a clause to pay our taxes.


I hardly dare open my mouth on this as I obviously live on another planet. I dont think the NHS should be paying for this. IF they need help, it should be entirely funded by Gambling Cos.

What checks are in place if 13 year olds have on line accounts. Why should the buck stop with the tax payer.

Similar to all the arguments re crime and austerity, it's a Social problem, that needs sorting by Society, not just governments.

I have a cousin at the moment who is suffering alcoholism. My first reaction was pull yourself together to which my wife and daughter slaughtered me for. They've worked so hard seeing he gets the right professional help. Sorting out all his debts that have accumulated because of the drink. It's been going on for 16 months now and there have been steps forward, but they always are followed by steps backward. He has his good days, but lots of bad days. My daughter has all but given up, and it breaks her heart, but as I keep telling her at least you tried, which is more than I did, but unless he admits to himself that he has a problem she's wasting her time. No matter what they do, or what other departments do for him, if he isnt willing to help himself it's a waste of time.
Going back to the NHS and gambling, the homeless, gang culture crime. Nothing can be done to help these people if they dont come forward and admit they have a problem.

Addiction doesn't just harm the person who is addicted, as you've aptly illustrated. It harms everyone. And addiction runs far deeper in our society than the people we see who have become down and out as a result. Many addicts find ways of living with their addictions. Addiction often has physical outcomes, but it's a mental illness.

The human body - as amazing and complex as it is - has never evolved fast enough to keep up with our lifestyle changes over the last few hundred (or thousand) years. Our bodies react to stress the way they have for perhaps a million years or more - because for 99% of that time we faced a physical threat. We produce adrenaline, our pain receptors are nulled, and we're ready to fight or to flee. This has served us well (and kept us going) as a species, but when you apply stress to a person sitting at a desk - a deadline, and maybe some family problems as well - then it doesn't work anymore. In fact it makes things much worse.

There are a lot of ideas about what addiction is, but i see it as something that makes our caveman brain happy.

We can't change our bodies, but we can change the way we deal with stress. And if we can teach young people to deal with stress, then we might also be on the path to them dealing with addiction.

[tim_noone]

The latest estimates put the number of people addicted to gambling in the UK at around 430,000.00 with another 2 million people thought to be at risk.

Definitely an addiction that requires and deserves NHS funding.

I'd guess many more than the figures above...I gamble when Bored and I'm not very good at it either.my gambling doesn't impact on anybody else thankfully....but I'm sure As a whole Lots of families are affected by gambling parents husbands and wives etc.

[CombatClaret]

Underage gambling is a huge issue and there needs to be some strong legislation brought in regarding video games which are exposing very young children to predatory levels of gambling encouragement.

I'm a gamer myself and will defend them on most levels, playing GTA does not make anyone into a murder. It's a lazy scapegoat like Rock'n'Rock music was in the 50s.

However it's so easy to spend large amounts of real world money on these games and it's all designed to keep you spending in the hope of getting the best virtual skin, weapon, player car etc.
Flashy graphics, crafted audio cues triggering gratification, in game currency to dissociate from real money etc etc. All these things have been thought about and designed by experts to maximize the desire to spend again.
They are the virtual Fixed Odds Betting Machines but instead of being at the bookies, they're in children's bedrooms on FIFA, StarWars Battlefront, Destiny etc.

So with this in mind I fully support an NHS Gambling Clinic but would sooner see the above stopped at source. It's gambling deliberately targeting minors.

[Colburn_Claret]

Addiction doesn't just harm the person who is addicted, as you've aptly illustrated. It harms everyone. And addiction runs far deeper in our society than the people we see who have become down and out as a result. Many addicts find ways of living with their addictions. Addiction often has physical outcomes, but it's a mental illness.

The human body - as amazing and complex as it is - has never evolved fast enough to keep up with our lifestyle changes over the last few hundred (or thousand) years. Our bodies react to stress the way they have for perhaps a million years or more - because for 99% of that time we faced a physical threat. We produce adrenaline, our pain receptors are nulled, and we're ready to fight or to flee. This has served us well (and kept us going) as a species, but when you apply stress to a person sitting at a desk - a deadline, and maybe some family problems as well - then it doesn't work anymore. In fact it makes things much worse.

There are a lot of ideas about what addiction is, but i see it as something that makes our caveman brain happy.

We can't change our bodies, but we can change the way we deal with stress. And if we can teach young people to deal with stress, then we might also be on the path to them dealing with addiction.

I can agree with most of that, things have changed, but differ in the responsibility for dealing with stress as a cause of addiction. Where does the stress come from, peers, bosses, family. Do we set unrealistic targets on ourselves. The young do seem to have this need to have the latest fad or gadget. I still maintain, whatever the circumstances the first port of call is family, friends and neighbours. That's what society, community should be about, and used to be. Those that disguise their addictions, and pretend they dont have a problem are more of a problem, as I said re my cousin, unless you admit the problem and accept you need help, there is nothing friends, family, neighbours or government can do.
You can try an intervention, but if it doesn't work you have very few roads left to go down. My cousin could be sectioned, extreme I know, but at least he wouldn't be able to drink. Then that would be argued as breaching his human rights. If he wants to drink himself to death, he has every right too.
I dont pretend it is easy, and would think it's a lot easier to teach people to deal with stress, and the dangers of addictions from birth, than trying to deal with the after effects. Again that should be a lesson taught by family and friends. Siblings, parents, partners, neighbours, teachers should look for signs, sometimes sharing a problem can make a world of difference.

[AndrewJB]

I can agree with most of that, things have changed, but differ in the responsibility for dealing with stress as a cause of addiction. Where does the stress come from, peers, bosses, family. Do we set unrealistic targets on ourselves. The young do seem to have this need to have the latest fad or gadget. I still maintain, whatever the circumstances the first port of call is family, friends and neighbours. That's what society, community should be about, and used to be. Those that disguise their addictions, and pretend they dont have a problem are more of a problem, as I said re my cousin, unless you admit the problem and accept you need help, there is nothing friends, family, neighbours or government can do.
You can try an intervention, but if it doesn't work you have very few roads left to go down. My cousin could be sectioned, extreme I know, but at least he wouldn't be able to drink. Then that would be argued as breaching his human rights. If he wants to drink himself to death, he has every right too.
I dont pretend it is easy, and would think it's a lot easier to teach people to deal with stress, and the dangers of addictions from birth, than trying to deal with the after effects. Again that should be a lesson taught by family and friends. Siblings, parents, partners, neighbours, teachers should look for signs, sometimes sharing a problem can make a world of difference.

I think I muddied my point a little, as I wasn't trying to argue that stress is the cause of addiction, but that our bodies react to everyday stress in ways that aren't helpful, and that our bodies can also react to things that give us pleasure in unhelpful ways.

Addiction is a health issue, and I don't think most families are equipped to cope. If your cousin had a heart disorder, or a tumor, you wouldn't be dealing with it within the family, and I think the same should be with addiction.

In my opinion things like Mindfulness and meditation are the best ways to give people the means to avoid falling into addiction. It would be great if this could be taught in the home, but until that happens I think it should be taught at school.