Betting shops slammed for failing to protect problem gamblers trying to quit

Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) have been criticised for failing to protect problem gamblers who are trying to quit.

All AGCs must sign up to a self-exclusion scheme, which aims to identify and block access for problem gamblers who have opted in. However, when BBC reporter Greg Clark went undercover to test it out, only one out of 14 AGCs refused him entry.

The Gambling Commission described this as “very concerning”, and has launched its own investigation into AGCs’ compliance with the schemes.

Protections not working

While one AGC did detect him and turn him away, Greg Clark was still able to gain entry into another AGC just down the street, despite the system being designed to alert other local venues of a breach.

the system completely failed

He said: “You would expect the system to be able to detect if you’ve breached it, you know, you can’t walk down the road and just walk in somewhere else and pump your money in the machine. And yet, that’s exactly what I did.”

He added: “I went in, and I was thinking ‘they’re gonna spot me, I’m going to be in here barely a moment’. But no, I was given a warm welcome, and the system completely failed.”

Targeting the vulnerable

Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gambling Reform Sir Iain Duncan Smith, called for the Gambling Commission to have greater powers to intervene, as he said AGC companies “don’t really care” about protecting their customers.

Head of the NHS Northern Gambling Service and consultant psychologist Dr Matt Gaskell said that AGCs are “targeting the most vulnerable people in our communities who could least withstand the harm”.

Tim Miller, Executive Director of the Gambling Commission, said: “Where we see evidence that gambling companies are not meeting their regulatory expectations will take really robust action against them.”

He added that AGCs have a responsibility to customers in addiction of “Not just stopping them from gambling, but providing them with referral to appropriate support as well.”

Harmful and addictive

Jackie Olden, whose sick mother lost thousands, explained how her mother “had her own house and some money saved but all of that just went and it went really, really, really quickly,” and that she fell into debt because of her addiction to slot machines.

the products in there are known to be the most harmful, the most addictive

Jackie said: “When I found out, I was absolutely flabbergasted to hear that there are 24-hour slot machine places on almost every high street in the UK.”

She stated: “these places are so dangerous. The products in there are known to be the most harmful, the most addictive and I just think we need to regulate them way more tightly.”