The debate over gambling taxation has reignited questions about whether campaigners for reform are sending mixed messages.

For years, activists and MPs have argued that betting firms’ profits are fuelled by problem gambling. Yet, many of the same voices are now calling for those profits to be taxed more heavily to fund government initiatives.

As SBC commentator Ted Orme-Claye noted this week: “Many campaigners have been arguing for years that industry profits are driven by problem gambling. If this is true, then surely making state revenue out of problem gambling is just as immoral?”

Prominent reform advocates such as the Social Market Foundation and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform, led by Iain Duncan Smith, support higher taxes on betting firms because of “its societal impact.” Former prime minister Gordon Brown has also argued that “by taxing gambling heavier” child poverty could be reduced.

But Orme-Claye cautioned that “a poorly thought out slapping of higher taxes on the betting industry could in effect just become a tax on problem gambling.”

The industry itself maintains that higher taxation risks driving customers into the black market, while critics insist firms profit from problem gambling. Without improved communication, Orme-Claye warned, “the debate will just keep going on.”