The Gambling Bill proposal put forward by the British government in mid-October is being condemned by churches for “failing to protect vulnerable people”. The critics have now also been backed by the head of worldwide Anglicans, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William, reported the Telegraph newspaper yesterday.

The proposal will increase the maximum number of slot machines allowed in casinos from currently 26 up to 1,250. In addition, the new law will liberate the jackpots from £2000 to unlimited.

Criticism of the Bill has been spearheaded by the Methodist Church and the Salvation Army, and was also joined yesterday by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Rev Peter Smith. They are very concerned that the current proposals risk an explosion in the number of mega-casinos in the UK.

“We have never seen this type of high value fruit machine in the UK,” said Rachel Lampard, Secretary for Parliamentary and Political Affairs for The Methodist Church. It is extremely worrying as research has suggested that this kind of machine could potentially be even more addictive than previous ones, and may hurt vulnerable people who cannot resist the increased temptation.

Archbishop Williams backed the churches’ stance on the matter. He met senior ministers to voice his concerns that a proliferation of “super casinos” will increase debt and problem gambling.

His spokesman said, “We respect the right of adults to entertain themselves as they choose but vulnerable people, including children, should be protected from opportunities for high-value gambling that outstrip their self-control.”

The minister responsible for the Bill, Lord McIntosh, claimed that even though the Bill allows more casinos to operate, at the same time, more restrictions will be imposed on granting a licence. However, the Salvation Army argues that there is nothing to prevent casino operators from offering local councils an annual percentage of their profits in return for permissions.

While Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Tessa Jowell praised the UK for having relatively low levels of gambling problems, she insisted that the new law is about “new protection” but not “new casino”. The Salvation Army and the Methodist Church pointed out that actually there is contradiction at the heart of the proposal.

“One half of the Bill is designed to increase the number of gambling opportunities while the other half is supposed to protect people from the problems that will be created by that very expansion,” said Jonathan Lomax from the Salvation Army, “You simply can’t have more gambling opportunities and at the same time say that the number of problem gamblers will not rise.”

Archbishop Williams also lamented at the contradicting law, “... they propose these huge casinos, which will have unlimited numbers of machines, which will be open perhaps for 24 hours, and it is then the vulnerable adults who can be caught in this, and the social effects of obsessive gambling are dreadful.”

The Archbishop highlighted the social impact of gambling on an unpublished Church of England briefing paper, which says that the Bill in its current form “threatens serious personal and social damage”. Churches also warned that the number of cases of addicted gambling reported by charities is growing month by month.

Archbishop Williams believes the controversial legislation is being driven more by commercial considerations than public need. This prediction may seem justified by many as the Prime Minister Tony Blair commented publicly on Wednesday, that 20-40 large leisure casino complexes which are going to be built across Britain will generate hundreds of millions of pounds of investment and thousands of jobs.

Some government ministers said that the proposal will meet the increasing demand for gambling opportunities in the UK. However, it is not the real case. In the NOP poll commissioned by The Salvation Army 93% of people said that there were already enough opportunities to gamble in Britain at the moment.

The Archbishop condemned the government for misreading the public mood. There is actually a strong voice of opposition against the gambling bill from the public in general. He said, “I hope the Government will listen to the genuine concerns expressed through people’s MPs.”