Taking a punt

I find it strange that the Blair Government - so nannying in matters of health, education, food, binge-drinking - should have presided over, and indeed encouraged, the explosion of the gambling industry. Arguably, gambling might be seen as the most rapacious form of capitalism, exploiting all social classes but most of all the workers, while ruining lives and families throughout the land. Did Chancellor Brown, son of the manse, realise what would happen when he abolished betting tax? I am not opposed in principle to gambling but it seems to me that there is already enough of it. The Independent tells all:

"Betting is likely to treble in the decade, creating a financial bonanza for bookmakers, an academic study shows. University researchers say Labour's abolition of betting tax four years ago has provided the perfect conditions for a gambling boom.
Gambling will soar from £6.9bn in 1999 to £11.8bn in 2009, says the Leisure Industries Research Centre of Sheffield Hallam University. In that time, betting on everything from horse-racing to share prices is expected to rise from £1.6bn billion to £4.3bn.
As restrictions on the number of casinos are relaxed, there will be strong rises in spending on fruit machines, poker, blackjack and roulette. The study will also raise concerns about more gambling addicts...
The researchers say gambling has been electrified by the abolition of betting tax in 2001 and the rise of internet and spread betting. Before that, gambling had declined by up to 5 per cent a year between 1999 and 2001. After the abolition of duty - in exchange for a tax on the bookmakers' profits - gambling has risen every year. Last year there was a 12 per cent spike.
The second-biggest sector of gambling, gaming machines, including fruit machines inside and outside casinos, is expected to rise by about 50 per cent in the next four years to £3.3bn. Lotteries, the third biggest sector, will nudge up to £2.5bn.
Money gambled in casinos on traditional games such as roulette or poker will increase by 25 per cent to £878m. The number of casinos in Britain has risen from 114 four years ago to 137 this year. There are applications before the Gambling Commission for 39 more casinos. Under the
new regime, the 2005 Gambling Act, ministers will approve at least one super-casino of 5,000square metres, a further eight medium-size casinos and eight smaller casinos by 2010.
Income from bingo is forecast to rise from £570m last year to £679m by 2009. The only area predicted to decline, the pools, will slump by about a quarter to £62m a year in 2009."

A case for a windfall tax?