Move to tackle social impact of gambling

Haringey Council is to update its policies on gambling amid “serious concerns” over the impact it is having on the borough.

The changes to the Statement of Gambling Policy will provide more background information on local areas in a bid to protect vulnerable residents from the harm caused by gambling.

It comes after a public consultation revealed there was “strong support for taking into account gambling harm and clustering of betting facilities”.

Although local authorities’ powers are limited under the Gambling Act, they are able to use local area profiles when considering gambling applications. These highlight areas of the borough inhabited or visited by people who might be at risk of being harmed or exploited by gambling, according to a report presented to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The report states: “The draft revised policy and the local area profile supplementary document […] establishes that the council has serious concerns of the impact from gambling premises, particularly those in the most vulnerable and ‘at risk’ areas of the borough.”

Under the gambling policy, operators have to carry out assessments to explore what risks their establishments pose to the licensing objectives, including the protection of young and vulnerable people. 

In areas where there is a greater risk to vulnerable people, operators are required “to have consideration and mitigate these risks” – which could even involve relocating existing premises. Local area profiles can be used when carrying out these risk assessments, and in Haringey the document has been updated with more recent census data and information on deprivation levels.

Further updates to the policy include the addition of Harringay ward to a list of “vulnerable areas”.

The changes to the gambling policy, which will be in force from 2022 to 2025, were agreed during the cabinet meeting and will now go to full council for approval.

Speaking during the meeting, Lucia Das Neves, cabinet member for health, social care and wellbeing, revealed the council was taking a “public health approach” to gambling.

She said: “We are creating a programme of work, bringing in national and local expert organisations to raise awareness and address gambling-related harm explicitly, focusing particularly on co-producing the programme with the community and young people specifically.

“We are right at the beginning of this process, but I hope you agree this is a really important thing to be doing, especially given the concerns we have around gambling and gambling addiction in the borough.”

The programme of work is due to begin in January, Cllr Das Neves added.