Harj Gahley on Wednesday: ‘…there seems to be a wild, wild west, thing going on with the betting operators, which is allowing them a free-for-all just for them to do what they want’

A SURVIVOR of gambling addiction has told the GLA to get on with banning betting adverts on the city transport network in the same way it stopped fast food companies promoting sugary and salty grub.

Harj Gahley spent a quarter of a million pounds on betting before seeking help and is now a consultant with the Red Card campaign groupAnyone with a “nice loud instrument”, singers, and non-singers who are happy to help collect money are welcome to join them.

During a health committee debate on Wednesday, he questioned why Sadiq Khan’s 2021 pledge to purge ads from bookmakers had so far failed to materialise and said London should follow Bristol with a ban on all gambling promotion.

“Look at the tube this morning. It was packed and I saw two adverts on there. The more you see something, the more you are going to pay attention, and that’s what they prey on, the people in the most vulnerable state,” he said. “We come back to the cost of living crisis. I’ve seen betting adverts talking about how to use bingo to make money. It’s not the right way of advertising.”

Sadiq Khan’s advisers are looking at what should be included in a ban with the idea that some forms of gambling are more harmful than others. There were also questions about whether the real gambling promotion was all done online, with Green Party Assembly Member Caroline Russell telling the chamber that her X feed was inundated with gambling ads.

“I don’t click on them but they are there,” she said.

Mr Gahley said that the online world should be tackled but that didn’t mean nothing could be done in places where lots of people went.

“If we can’t stop them, why can’t we not restrict them because there seems to be a wild, wild west, thing going on with the betting operators, which is allowing them a free-for-all just for them to do what they want,” he said.

“There’s no spending caps… If we really want to cause a minimisation, why don’t we go to the producers of what’s happening, which is the betting operators.

“There has to be an element of ‘well, no, gambling companies can’t do X’ in terms of spending, and one of those is why not just get rid of it from TfL.

“It’s a different way of getting away from constantly seeing these operators pushing betting down your throat.”

The session came amid concern that the cost of living crisis and people’s struggles to pay bills was leading towards the dangers of gambling.

Dr Tom Coffey, a GP and the London mayor’s health adviser, said: “The commitment that Sadiq made is something that he still holds true to.”

But he added that there were legal risks to a ban without a nationally-recognised definition of what harmful gambling was.

“We have asked the government to develop that definition. We have asked public health partners because I don’t think it would stand up to legal challenge if we just said this is our definition, on the GLA, because my sense is that would fall at the first hurdle,” he said.

Asked why they didn’t just push for a total ban on all gambling-related adverts, Dr Coffey said:
“I’m sure some people here gamble on the National Lottery. For large amounts of the population, gambling can be a normal part of their social system, which they enjoy doing, and it doesn’t cause them harm. We have to take a view like cigarette smoking; you cannot smoke safely, one cigarette a year is dangerous. We don’t have the same view of people who gamble once or twice a year on the Grand National or the National Lottery. This is why we chose the word ‘harmful’ gambling.”