On 29 November BIT’s Gambling Policy and Research Unit (GPRU) held an event at the UK House of Lords bringing together key stakeholders, policy and decision makers who are working in the field of reducing gambling harms – GPRU’s core mission.
Attendees included representatives from industry organisations, support services and other voluntary sectors, civil service officials, politicians and others.
GPRU steering group chair Baroness Armstrong (left) and BIT Director of Economic Policy and event host Nida Broughton at the GPRU forum
The expert and engaging discussions included reflections on how the wealth of data now available on gambling behaviours and harms can be used to design better consumer protections than ever before; the importance of early intervention, and the importance of not ignoring the steps that can be taken now for systems and tools already in place, such as self-exclusion, where there is plenty of room for improvement.
Similarly, although all stakeholders are keenly awaiting the publication of the long planned government White Paper on updates to the Gambling Act 2005 – a crucial opportunity to improve the whole gambling ecosystem to reduce gambling harms – it was made clear that there are plenty of steps that can be very effective which don’t need new legislation to happen and which can be implemented using existing powers or via secondary legislation.
