Written by investigative journalist and Guardian correspondent Rob Davies, the book reveals how the British Gambling industry has evolved over the centuries to become one of the country’s most lucrative industries worth billions of pounds each year.
In 2020, it was reported that the industry’s gross gambling yield was an estimated £5.89 billion ($7.85/€7 billion). However, the previous year, before the widespread shutdown of gambling properties due to the global pandemic, it was £14.12 billion ($18.8/€16.75 billion) and looks to be recovering in 2021.
During his research, Davies investigated the process behind deregulation under the Blair administration through the 2005 Gambling Act that led to this multi-billion-pound industry. This included the establishment of the British Gambling Commission in 2007 and the huge influx of targeted gambling advertising and questionable predatory tactics used by operators following deregulation.
Those predatory tactics include gambling firms being the heaviest advertisers on radio during school runs and Flutter-owned Sky Vegas offering free spins to recovering addicts—two stories that Davies reported on recently in his role as a correspondent for the Guardian.
It is tactics such as these that have resulted in as many as 32.2% of over 16s in the UK now gambling on a weekly basis and the related rise in problem gambling. In 2020, Davies reported that a survey carried out by YouGov found that as many as 2.7% of the British adult population, or almost 1.4 million people are problem gamblers.
It is unsurprising then that he tackles the issue of problem gambling and the thousands of victims of gambling harms that have been largely ignored by those in power, asking some serious questions of both the authorities and the general public.
When queried as to his reasons for writing the book, Davies told Gambling Industry News:
“I wrote the book because I’d spent five years hearing horror stories about gambling addiction and writing articles about the kind of flawed regulation and political double-dealing that got us to where we are today. I just felt someone had to gather all of that together in a book and it might as well be me.”
And on the subject of what he hopes this book will achieve he added:
New Book by Guardian Journalist Reveals Dark Underbelly of the British Gambling Industry New Book by Guardian Journalist Reveals Dark Underbelly of the British Gambling Industry is available for pre-order now from The Guardian Bookshop. New Book by Guardian Journalist Reveals Dark Underbelly of the British Gambling Industry.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.