26 February 2008
GAMBLING WITH REGENERATION?
Following the announcement from Culture Secretary Andy Burnham
The Salvation Army says: "The Salvation Army is pleased the government has decided against the introduction of a super casino and we hope this will lead ultimately to creative thinking around community regeneration. Hard gambling is not the answer. "We repeat our concerns about 16 other substantially-sized new casinos to be built in the UK in addition to the many other forms of gambling already available. The alleged 'regenerative benefits' of these new casinos are yet to be proved and the onus is on local authorities and operators to ensure they have taken all necessary steps to identify and address the social consequences in their communities. "The Salvation Army has always maintained that increasing opportunities to gamble may have a long-term detrimental effect on individuals and communities and that better ways need to be found to regenerate areas other than introducing hard forms of gambling. "We remain concerned about a normalisation of gambling in our society, which could negatively affect many vulnerable people and draw them into serious debt. Problem gambling already has a negative impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in this country and as a society we should be doing all we can to reduce not increase that number."
|