Responding to the draft gambling bill issued, yesterday the Methodist Church and the Salvation Army in Britain expressed their concerns on the effectiveness of the Government’s gambling proposals in combatting the rise in gambling problems.

However, some wise decisions have been made by the Government in the gambling proposal, for example to remove fruit machines from unlicensed premises such as fish and chip shops and mini cab offices. The Methodist Church and the Salvation Army have shown their appreciation to the Government for adopting the advice from churches, charities and academics.

However, both churches are disappointed that children and young people will still be allowed to play fruit machines in some arcades in the new draft bill. This law becomes Britain's unique position all over the world.

Jonathan Lomax, Public Affairs Officer for The Salvation Army therefore pointed out the inconsistency of the Government’s proposal, “By removing fruit machines from unlicensed premises the Government has already accepted that fruit machines are unsafe for children. If this is the case, the Government must explain why they are safe in arcades where children are free to enter without an adult.”

According to the Methodist Church and the Salvation Army, allowing the expansion of just one of the sporting leisure activities would mean to “give precedence over the welfare of thousands of people whose lives are ruined by problem gambling”. And this is totally contradicting the belief of both churches which have consistently argued for better protection for vulnerable people, such as children and young people.

Jonathan Lomax from The Salvation Army especially drew the attention to the unnecessary need to increase the availability of gambling opportunity in the UK by using some statistics. He said, “There is absolutely no public demand for a liberalisation of the UK’s gambling regulations. An NOP poll commissioned by The Salvation Army found that 93% of the public felt that there were enough opportunities to gamble in the UK already.” NOP poll was conducted by telephone between 28-30th November 2003 amongst a nationally representative sample of 973 adults aged 18 and over.

Some of the measures included in the draft bill may actually have the potential to intensify problem gambling, Rachel Lampard from the Methodist Church commented, “We are disappointed that the Government still sees more problem gambling as an acceptable price to pay for more gambling opportunities.”

Even though the low-value fruit machine seems to be less harmful to people compared to other forms of gambling. The Methodist Church and the Salvation Army are still very cautious towards it. Rachel Lampard, Secretary for Parliamentary and Political Affairs for the Methodist Church explained, “Research indicates that these machines, which have unlimited stakes and prizes, are amongst the most addictive forms of gambling.”

The Salvation Army and the Methodist Church are pleased that the Government will place a cap on the number of unlimited prize fruit machines allowed in regional casinos. However, they still urged the Government to take a more conservative approach. “We believe that it is vital to cap the number of these machines, but think that the cap must be set at a much lower level so that these new machines are introduced into the UK very cautiously,” added Rachel Lampard.

The churches are also dissatisfied with the Government’s inadequate efforts for removing alcohol from gaming floors in the proposal. Jonathan Lomax from The Salvation Army explained the importance of this action, “Gambling of any kind requires advanced mental processes, all of which are impaired by the consumption of alcohol. We believe the introduction of alcohol to casino gaming floors is a mistake that can only lead people to lose more money. This view is supported by 82% of the population who think that people are more likely to lose money if they drink alcohol while gambling.”