UK Super Casinos held up by House of Lords revolt

At last some common sense. Yesterday, 28th March 2007, the House of Lords kicked out the recommendations for the new batch of casinos and super casinos that are being promoted so heavily by the UK Labour Government through their Gambling Act 2005.

Unfortunately, it will probably only mean a delay until after the Local Government Elections in May 2007 before the Government has another attempt at getting them through.

It seems that the House of Lord's motivations for kicking out the recommendations were quite diverse. Some, in the opposition, just wanted to bloody the nose of the Government. Others were batting for their particular area, being associated with Blackpool instead of Manchester. Whilst others, who just don't like the idea of more gambling and see it as harmful, took the opportunity of sticking an oar in the works.

Personally, I have grave reservations when I see an unelected body of, mainly extremely elderly people, preventing the will of the elected body of the House of Commons. My vote would be for their abolition as soon as is possible. However, it is hard to keep this conviction when I see them protecting the British people from an industry that will ultimately be more harmful to many as a result of the implementation of the Gambling Act 2005.

I have to say that it was particularly unedifying to see Rt Hon Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, posing as a croupier on a roulette table today on the television news. I hope one day she will feel ashamed of that particular bit of public relations for gambling, but I won't be holding my breath.

One person from the Lords, I think it was Baroness Kennedy, said on the radio this morning that she had visited areas in the USA where super casinos were located and had seen evidence of deprivation and crime associated with these casinos.

When Britain gets it's super casinos and other casinos and we begin to see evidence of associated deprivation and crime, I wonder how many of the Members of Parliament who voted to liberalise gambling and for the super casinos will be brave enough to stand up and carry the can.

The evidence of how gambling impacts decent ordinary people is out there. The Members of Parliament in the House of Commons should take this opportunity to rethink their support for this bad legislation and find some way of reversing it.

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online author who believes gambling hurts people and should not be promoted by Governments)

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