The progressive think-tank with a renowned penchant for all things anti-gambling, the Social Market Foundation, will be despatched to the north-west London borough of Brent to formulate a new review that it says will prove, extraordinarily, that gambling businesses are somehow magically not contributing to the local economy.
The London Borough of Brent has announced that it is teaming up with social-justice think-tank the Social Market Foundation, in a new effort to clamp down on AGCs.
A statement posted to the SMF’s website said that the present legislation governing the opening of AGCs is “not fit for purpose,” citing nebulous “recent media stories” as apparently illustrative of “how gambling operators circumnavigate the rules.”
It’s an odd source of motivation for research – particularly the media stories the SMF are probably citing have all been generated by the Brent councillors themselves. The Foundation is clearly not reading the hundreds of media stories that Coinslot trawls every single day.
But it’s a subject very close to the heart of the Foundation – so one should expect a familiar set of observations and conclusions from its study. Announcing the deal, the think-tank said that Brent Council would be commissioning it to carry out a “full review” of all current rules and regulations, with a view to making proposals for change.
The SMF said that Brent was an apt partner in such a review process, due to the fact that it’s full of poor people.
“The London Borough of Brent has some of the most income deprived areas in England, with the median household income in Stonebridge ward at £37,977 – significantly below the London average of £59,000,” said their spokesperson, going on to wring their hands over a “cluster” of AGCs in nearby Harlesden.
“This clustering is opening the door to more residents stepping into a cycle of addiction and financial ruin, as set out in the council’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) into Gambling Harms,” they added.
Apparently, the upcoming review – which actually sounds like it’s already been written – will draw on the “expertise of the Social Market Foundation,” as well as “dispel the myth that gambling premises, including Adult Gaming Centers, support economic growth locally.”
You read that correctly: apparently gambling businesses don’t pay tax or employ anyone. They haven’t invested millions in shuttered properties or employed local people. They don’t make any contributions to the statutory levy or contribute to local community projects.
And it’s that lack of recognition that seems to be a problem, most notably with the councillors that commissioned the SMF. You can be insufferably ill-informed, and worse, politically irresponsible, but still keep your job and waste local taxpayers money.
