Gambling
The Church of England is committed to working alongside people who are affected by gambling and is also active in making appropriate submissions on Government legislation.
Press release from February 2008 on the Government's decision not to license a regional supercasino
Earlier that month the General Synod had debated a Private Member's Motion from Tom Benyon on gambling, with specific reference to the Government's stance in relation to the opening of casinos and the sharp increase in public spending on gambling.
The Synod carried the motion in this amended form:
'That this Synod, gravely concerned that the total national spend
on gaming has risen in each year over the past four years from £4
to £40 billion:
(a) endorse the public opposition expressed by church leaders to the introduction of regional and large casinos, and encourage local churches to participate in local authority consultations on plans for new casino applications;
(b) declare its support for programmes of education, research and treatment undertaken with the aim of checking the growth in problem gaming, and request the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to invoke the powers granted by the Gambling Act 2005 to introduce a statutory levy on the gambling industry to fund such programmes;
(c) call upon Her Majesty's Government to monitor the addictive effects of fixed-odds betting terminals and to seek an international framework for a code of conduct on internet gambling; and
(d) call upon the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report back to Synod by February 2009 on measures being taken by the Churches to combat the detrimental effects of gambling in various forms.'
September
2006
Church
questions proposals for gambling advertisements
