Gambling addiction could be driving crime in the UK

The cost of addiction that society pays is high. Alcohol-related addiction costs the United Kingdom around £11bn annually, and drug-related addiction costs another £13.9bn when applied to the crime rates these problems cause. These numbers are well-known, and police have long been aware of them. Now, though, a new problem is being looked into by police in Wales and England.

At least ten police forces in the United Kingdom are currently working on new programs that involve officers who are able to identify addiction in suspects and guide them toward treatment services. While addiction rarely excuses the severity of an offense or offers leniency in the criminal justice system, timely intervention would mean that people receive adequate help and do not become repeat offenders.

UK prisoners are still woefully impacted by gambling addiction but little is actually done to address the issue. Now, though, the police may have a solution. Joy Allen, the crime commissioner for Durham, has urged more police forces to undertake similar screening processes as the ones carried out by the current participants.

Essentially, police officers are being trained to spot gambling addiction just like members of society are. Addiction could be a driving factor behind criminal behavior, the logic goes, and this is why officers now want to know about the gambling, drug, and alcohol habits of suspects.

Extracting such information though can be difficult in its own right, as suspects are unlikely to trust authorities or see that as self-incrimination. With ten police forces already working on winning over suspects’ trust, seven more are in training for 2023. But suspects are not the only ones to blame, says Clean Up Gaming director Matt Zarb-Cousin. According to him, the industry has also been slow to act in cases where gambling funds may have an illegal or problem gambling provenance.

"These failures illustrate why affordability cannot be entrusted to the discretion of gambling firms," Zarb-Cousin says cited by The Guardian. The recent developments are part of a shift in the culture of policing in the UK, where the root cause of the issue is being investigated, rather than the resulting behavior stigmatized.

Police authorities first began looking into the possible link between addiction and crime in the UK back in 2017 when the Cheshire police sought to study how addictions can drive criminal behavior. At the time, Matt Burton was chief constable, and he is largely credited with the pilot of the program that is inspiring others to follow suit today. This surely beckons a new and better course of action in addressing problem gambling.

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