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BOOKS will be forced to spend their profits to help drug addicts to gamble, as part of projects planned by the government.
Ministers were urged to impose a new mandatory operator tax in order to resolve an epidemic of "severe and widespread".
Alamy
They are currently paying a voluntary levy to fund research, education, and treatment through the GambleAware Charity.
But government gambling advisers want a much tougher diet, with the industry yielding more than 14.4 billion pounds of revenue.
The money would be used to fund a whole host of new measures, including a heightened role of the NHS in providing treatment and repression of advertisements for gambling.
Last night, this decision was backed by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch, who resigned in a bitter fight over delays in imposing gambling restrictions.
Ms. Crouch, whose resignation forced the government to act, said: "The bookmakers have been warned repeatedly that they do not make a voluntary contribution to fund research, education and treatments, then they will be made mandatory. Their time is running out. "
This decision exacerbated the pressure on ministers to introduce a mandatory tax, also supported by Labor and GambleAware.
FIGURES OF CHILDREN'S GAME "PERTURBANT & # 39;
In a notice to the Gambling Commission last week, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Council said: "A mandatory levy on industry should be introduced to replace existing voluntary agreements and to fund on a larger scale the prevention, treatment and research, with transparent structure for the distribution of funds raised. "
There are approximately 340,000 adult players in the UK – as well as 55,000 children aged 11 to 16, according to the council's brief.
An estimated 550,000 people are suffering moderate harm.
The report of the board of directors said: "These statistics make it difficult to avoid concluding that there is a serious and omnipresent problem to deal with.
"The figures for children are or should be particularly worrying. Changes in approach are needed for progress to be made. "
Last week, the government announced the ban on the sale of lottery scratch cards to 16 and 17 year olds.
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This decision follows concerns that young people, who are banned from casinos and betting shops, can play the National Lottery or buy scratch cards quite easily in a candy store.
It has also emerged that smartphone gaming applications could be even more addictive than the controversial "crack cocaine" casino slot machines used in bookmakers.
A report from psychologists revealed that a person had placed nearly 180 losing bets before stopping.
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