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A few weeks ago I spoke at Labour Party conference about Britain’s hidden epidemic of gambling addiction.

The Gambling Commission estimates that there are just over 400,000 people with a gambling addiction in Britain, with a further 2 million people at risk of developing a serious habit.

However it’s not just a statistic - gambling addiction wrecks lives, tears families apart and causes wider societal problems such as crime and anti-social behaviour.

As a country, we haven’t taken this problem seriously enough and some elements of the gambling industry have repeatedly failed to act in a responsible manner.

(Image: Rex)

I welcome initiatives such Responsible Gambling Week, the first of its kind developed by the gambling industry and charities such as GambleAware and GamCare – but in reality it is barely a sticking plaster on a much deeper problem.

There are parts of this industry that take their social responsibilities very seriously - but there are far too many who pay lip service to responsible gambling and act in a pernicious and damaging manner, particularly to those most at risk of developing a gambling addiction.

Bookmakers cluster on the high streets of our poorest communities in order to saturate the area with dangerous and addictive fixed-odds betting terminals which allow you to fritter away thousands of pounds in seconds .

Recent research from GambleAware showed that the staff in these shops are sometimes wholly unprepared and trained in how to spot problem gamblers and intervene when necessary.

The study even detailed some staff who stood over people taking out pay day loans on the phone, in order to feed their addiction, and did nothing.

We’ve seen examples of online gambling companies failing in their duty to protect the most vulnerable and block accounts when people try to opt-out or self-exclude themselves, whilst other online companies have used advertising loopholes to entice children to gamble using online games with cartoon characters.

The Gambling Commission estimates that 450,000 children gamble every week.

If you were an alcohol or drug addict you would expect to be able to receive specialist treatment in order to combat it.

Gambling addiction one that is woefully misunderstood by our health service meaning that people don’t get the treatment they need.

Currently there is only one specialist clinic in the country which treats people with gambling addiction – so I’ve started a review with our health team to evaluate how the NHS should treat gambling addiction in the future.

With revenues of over £13billion last year , you would at the very minimum expect the industry to comply with the suggested voluntary contribution to research and treatment into gambling addiction which is suggested to be 0.1% of gross gambling yield.

However, this year the industry have given less than £10million to treatment and research, with some bookmakers contributing just a penny.

This situation has to end and the next Labour Government will do it, by introducing a compulsory levy on the gambling industry.

And we’ll work with the Football Association and clubs to end the growing trend of gambling companies sponsoring football shirts in order to help protect our young people.

So when I see initiatives like responsible gambling week I commend it – it’s a sign that there are some elements of the industry trying to do the right thing.

But I can’t help but think, why just a week?

Responsible gambling should be practiced all year round.

So I say this to the industry: do the right thing, stop targeting the young, the poorest and most vulnerable and start taking addiction seriously – or the next Labour Government will do it for you.