Betting law 'will spark epidemic'

A high-level warning that plans for a casino free-for-all will lead to a surge in gambling addiction was sounded today.

It came from a powerful committee of MPs and peers studying the Government's plans to deregulate the betting industry and allow Las Vegas-style complexes in every city.

In stark terms, the group said ministers plans must be toned down after evidence from other countries of the risks of compulsive and out of control gambling.

"We would expect the draft Bill to lead to an increase in the prevalence of problem gambling, even if only as a result of an increase in the numbers of those who gamble," it said in a 300-page report today.

It issued 139 recommendations for urgent amendments to tone down the plans in a three-volume report - including 750 pages of evidence, much of it warning of the risk of children being sucked into an early gambling culture.

They included banning advertising that could be seen by under-18s, scrapping plans to allow unlimited numbers of fruit machines and restricting the use of jackpot machines in taxi offices and clubs where teenagers could play.

Churches welcomed the report - and said the committee's findings undermined assurances from ministers that the casino culture would not foster addiction.

Jonathan Lomax, of the Salvation Army, said: "The committee's conclusion directly contradicts (Culture Secretary-Tessa Jowell's statement to the committee when she said that the Bill would not lead to an increase in problem gambling."

The warning was backed by consultant psychiatrist Dr Emanuel Moran, chairman of the National Council on Gambling, who predicted problem gambling could double under the government blueprint. "The danger with these things is in taking it to excess," he said.

In a blizzard of recommendations for safeguards, the committee also called for smoking to be banned at roulette wheels, card tables and fruit machines in casinos, partly to encourage gamblers to take a break from the tables.

However, the MPs and peers rejected calls for alcohol to be banned from the gaming floors, despite claims that plans to allow drinks to be served would lead to gamblers losing self-control. The Government wants to allow an explosion of new casinos on high streets and in seaside resorts to foster a leisure boom.

Mayor Ken Livingstone warned that organised crime could get its hooks into the industry, which became synonymous with London's major crime gangs in the Sixties.

In a memo submitted to the committee, he urged: "It is essential that all steps necessary are taken to prevent gambling in London once again becoming the target of organised crime."

The Mayor also wants lapdancers and strippers "or any performance of a sexual nature" to be outlawed in the capital's casinos. He told the committee: "Entertainment of a sexual nature should not be permitted ... both to protect the vulnerable and to guard against any growth in prostitution."