NHS clinic for problem gambling treats only children

To anyone who watches the gambling industry at all, it’s pretty clear that the public’s view on their beloved (and hated) vice is changing rapidly. Besides the regulatory clampdown on operators; the reduction of stakes on video betting terminals (VBTs); there’s a new wrinkle. Sometime in the near the future, the National Health Service (NHS) will be opening a string of clinics for gambling addicts, who also happen to be children.
According to NHS officials quoted in a recent Guardian article, the UK already has at least 55 thousand children who are deemed to be gambling addicts. This shocking number of child gambling addicts is normally blamed on the rise of online gambling and advertisements that allegedly target children. (This second claim is largely a matter of opinion.)
Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive,described the thinking behind clinics saying, “This action shows just how seriously the NHS takes the threat of gambling addiction, even in young people. The links between problem gambling and stress, depression and mental health problems are growing and there are too many stories of lives lost and families destroyed.”
Stevens went on to criticize the gambling industry for spending a huge amount of money on advertising, but very little to treat the addictions their industry produces.
Plans for the new clinics are proceeding rapidly with the NHS Northern Gambling Service set to open in Leeds later this summer. Plans are already underway for two more clinics to open in Sunderland and Leeds. So far there’s no word on when the final of the 15 clinics will be finished.