Salvation Army, Methodists Challenge Gambling Industry

The Salvation Army and Methodist Church have issued a joint challenge to the UK's first ever 'super casino', the location of which is due to be announced Tuesday.

Numerous local councils, including Glasgow, Newcastle and Blackpool, have bid for the licence to host the country's only Las Vegas-style super casino and the panel set up by the Government to advise on casino locations is due to publish the successful bid tomorrow.

The two Churches have run dedicated campaigns against the Government's push for more casinos, warning that they will lead to an increase in the number of people with serious gambling addictions.

"We expect the Government to keep to their promises of proper monitoring and evaluation of the social as well as the economic impact of these increased opportunities to gamble," said Lieutenant-Colonel Royston Bartlett, Secretary for Communications for The Salvation Army.

"Unfortunately, evidence suggests that the new casinos along with the increasing popularity of online gambling and the general normalisation of gambling within this country, could result in many more people developing a serious gambling addiction over an extended period," said Anthea Cox, Co-ordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social Justice at the Methodist Church.

"The gambling industry and the government will benefit most from the huge profits of these increased gambling opportunities. We are challenging them to channel substantial resources to help those many thousands, if not millions of people who will experience problems," said Ms Cox.

The controversial new Gambling Act has cleared the way for one regional casino, eight large casinos and eight small casinos. The Salvation Army and Methodist Church are particularly alarmed by the super casino, which will contain hard forms of gambling hitherto unavailable in the UK, including unlimited-jackpot machines.

The Salvation Army in particular warned that machine gambling has highly addictive properties, and that the lure of mega-prizes would only further compound this danger.

There are currently an estimated 370,000 problem gamblers in the UK and the Methodist Church and The Salvation Army. Research in the US has shown that regional casinos there have led to a rise in gambling-related debt, crime, bankruptcy, and associated social problems including unemployment and family breakdown.

Meanwhile, an NOP poll commissioned by The Salvation Army found that 56 per cent of the population, and 64 per cent of women, said they would not be happy for a casino to open where they live.

Now the Methodist Church and The Salvation Army are looking for a three-year monitoring and evaluation period.

"The Gambling Act includes provision for the proper monitoring of the effects of these increased gambling opportunities and we will be among those who will be keeping an eye on the situation to ensure that the government keeps to its promises!" said Anthea Cox from the Methodist Church.

"As it currently stands, the minimum evaluation period of three years will be measured from the award of the first casino license under the 2005 Act. Given that there could be a considerable amount of time between the license being awarded and the casino actually opening, the evaluation period could potentially be considerably less than three years in real terms."

"The Salvation Army and the Methodist Church are calling for a monitoring and evaluation period of at least three years from the time that the casinos open their doors, with a provision to increase that monitoring to five years if required."

Lieut-Colonel Royston Bartlett from The Salvation Army, meanwhile, said: "Much has been made of the potential economic benefit of casinos but that needs to be balanced against the potential devastating effects of problem gambling on individuals, families and communities."

"Britain is already fast becoming a culture obsessed with gambling. Only through meticulous and objective evaluation of the social effects of increased gambling over an extended period will we begin to understand the long term damage that may result from the increased availability of gambling products made possible under by the new 2005 Gambling Act."

"Whilst the government has promised monitoring they must also be committed to action if it is proved that the increased opportunities to gamble are indeed ruining lives, and communities. It is also vital that resources for education, prevention and treatment are made available and both the government and the gambling industry must be prepared to foot the bill."