Clause 1 - The licensing objectives
Gambling Bill
10:30 am
Mr Tony Banks (West Ham, Labour)
I was going to say that. Everyone wants to do your job, Mr. Gale.
I did not argue against social responsibility, but I am trying to inject a greater measure of reality and trust into our approach to this issue. Somehow we feel that we are okay, but that we must protect everyone else. I do not feel that we need to do that. From my contact with the gambling industry, I am fairly certain that there is a great deal of social responsibility in it already. The industry does not want to destroy its own trade and right to work. It has to be socially responsible. The hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire said that this is about making profits. Of course it is, but if it were a question of gambling operators wringing people dry, no one would want to go into a casino. There has to be a fair distribution of money in casinos and machines in order to make gambling attractive. We need to say that in
the end people must be responsible for themselves. Although we must include realistic safeguards, we should not be patronising about it.