North Antrim MLA says gambling must be treated like alcohol or tobacco addiction
North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan has said that gambling addiction needs to be treated in a similar way to alcohol and tobacco dependency.
The Sinn Fein MLA was speaking as the All Party Group (APG) on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling debated a Private Members’ Motion in the Stormont Assembly on Tuesday, January 28.
The debate follows publication of a report with almost 60 recommendations from the findings of a year-long inquiry by the All Party Group (APG) into public health approaches to tackling gambling related harms in Northern Ireland.
The report recognises gambling as a public health issue and called on NI Executive, Departments, and UK Government to “take decisive action in adopting measures to safeguard long-term wellbeing of individuals and communities as up to 200,000 people could be indirectly affected by gambling harm in NI each year”.
Mr McGuigan, who chairs the APG on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling, said: “Adopting a public health approach means treating gambling in a similar way to alcohol and tobacco, with policies that focus not just on individual-level harms but also on population-based approaches that prioritise harm prevention.
"This is because, as with other legal addictive products, the whole population is vulnerable to gambling addiction and harm.”
The motion called on the Minister of Health to address what the group called “the current unmet need within the healthcare system in Northern Ireland by commissioning statutory services specifically for gambling disorders”.
It further called on all relevant NI Executive Departments to ensure the inquiry report's recommendations are “carefully considered in the development of future policies aimed at preventing and mitigating gambling-related harms”.