But I'm of the school of thought that says that's OK and I can indulge in a gentle flutter if I want to. I imagine culture secretary Tessa Jowell would probably agree with me, judging by her recent relaxation of the gambling laws.
The Government view is that the level of problem gambling in Britain is small. Reassuring unless you're the one in every hundred gamblers who is addicted. A recent survey by the University of Plymouth suggested that as many as five per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds have a gambling problem.
And there seem to be genuine fears of an explosion in addiction as the shake-up takes affect and Vegas-style gambling palaces spring up in our market towns. One answer of course is to build in some protection measures for the needy and the vulnerable. (It gets hard at this point not to feel some sympathy for the Government: over-regulate and you're a killjoy nanny state; under-regulate and you're not protecting the vulnerable - heads they win, tails you lose).
So it's good to see that while overall the new laws liberalise gambling, there will be measures put in place aiming to increase the protection of young people. This will be done by removing fruit machines from over 6,000 takeaways and taxi offices; by creating a new criminal offence of inviting, permitting or causing a child to gamble; and by ensuring gambling web sites carry out compulsory age checks. All sound stuff and we commend it to the House.
But I couldn't help thinking there's one more thing the Government could consider in its bill. Its coffers will do very nicely out of this bigger, bolder and brasher gambling regime. How about channelling some of that revenue not only to projects working with those who suffer the social consequences when a family member is addicted to gambling, but also to programmes of education for young people so they can avoid it in the first place. Yes, youth work even. What's the betting?
- Andy Hopkinson is head of publications at The NYA. He can be contacted at andyh@nya.org.uk.
