Saturday, January 27, 2007

Casinos will be allowed to open 24 hours a day because of a loophole in
Labour's gaming laws. Experts fear this will give problem gamblers the
opportunity to lose money round the clock. They said Culture Secretary Tessa
Jowell had ditched her pledge to protect the vulnerable from the dangers of
casinos. Currently, casinos can open from 2pm until 6am six days a week,
closing at 4am on Sundays. Under the new rules, to come into force in
September, all casinos will be allowed to open from noon until 6am seven
days a week. But crucially, ministers have said any casino can apply to its
local authority to extend its hours - opening the back door to 24-hour
gambling. A Department of Culture document on the new casino hours, seen by
the Daily Mail, says: "No gambling facilities may be offered between 6am and
noon on any day." However, it adds: "All casinos will of course have the
opportunity of asking for the default hours to be changed."
Residents would have the right to object to 24-hour opening - but they are
unlikely to have much chance of success. When rights to open all day were
extended to pubs, just one in 100 complaints against the extension of
opening hours was upheld. Critics believe local authorities will be
powerless to resist requests for 24-hour gambling. Casinos would be able to
argue that staying open throughout the morning would cause fewer noise,
traffic or social problems than in the early hours.
A spokesman for Gamblers Anonymous compared 24-hour gambling to handing
unlimited supplies of heroin to a drug addict. "The more gambling
opportunities there are for people, the more people will become addicted.
"The more people you get through the doors of casino and the longer they
stay open, the faster they will get addicted. If casinos are open 24 hours,
some people will stay there 24 hours." Dr Emanuel Moran, adviser on
pathological gambling to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, helped set up
Gamblers Anonymous. He said casino opening hours should not be left to local
authorities to decide.

"In the 1960s, prior to the Gaming Act, there was a gambling free-for-all
which saw many casinos open 24 hours a day and it had dreadful consequences.

"Casinos have to close each day to ensure gamblers have to take a break. Any
move back towards 24-hour gambling would be a recipe for disaster."

Professor Mark Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University said: "The fear for
some individuals is that the combination of gambling and drinking is a heady
mix that will exacerbate problem gambling. You are more likely to be
reckless."

The GMB and Transport and General Workers Union, which represent casino
staff, oppose the move to round-the-clock gaming.

The GMB has written to Sports Minister Richard Caborn asking the Government
to restrict the casinos which could operate the extended hours.

It warns: "The extension of the liquor licensing hours recently may be some
sort of indicator of the shape of things to come in the casino industry."

Mick Marklow, of the T&G, accused the Government of "sending very mixed
messages".

He said: "Once the first casino goes 24 hours, others will be under pressure
to follow."

Shadow Culture Secretary Hugo Swire said: "The Government is sending out
completely the wrong messages.

"It will be gambling addicts that are more likely to take advantage of these
longer hours, and often chase their losses.