Gambling on urban renewal

It would take the toss of a coin to decide which is worse: a government that wants to stop us doing things that are 'bad' for us, such as gambling; or a government that is betting on our bad habits to regenerate regional economies.

The government's Gambling Bill allows for the creation of new super casinos across Britain. Opponents say that it will lead to an increase in gambling addiction and other social problems. The government responds that we should have the freedom to choose (while also emphasising that the Bill will place restrictions on other forms of gambling). For most of us, gambling is a minor social vice that we engage in once in a while as a form of entertainment, and a bet is no more likely to get us addicted than a pint is to make us alcoholics.

But the government is doing more than simply liberalising gambling laws - the Bill, along with other policies, will actively encourage the creation of casinos, all in the name of urban regeneration. As culture secretary Tessa Jowell told the Sunday Telegraph: 'New casinos could bring in around £5 billion of new investment in the first five years.... The fact is that regional casinos will bring real jobs, real investment into real areas.' So desperate is the government to import some easy investment to compensate for the lack of real economic development in the regions, Jowell ends up making gambling sound like a positive good.

The same kind of schizophrenia is evident in the government's alcohol policy: encouraging super-pubs to bring life back to city centres, then throwing its hands up in horror when some of the new customer-base have fights and vomit in the street. The government should allow us to blow our money in peace - but it shouldn't be touting for our business at the casino door.

'Opponents of new gambling law are snobs,' says Tessa Jowell, Sunday Telegraph, 24 October 2004