A NEW report from the British Medical Journal has claimed that the economic cost of gambling-related harm has been significantly underestimated and calls for a new tax on the gambling industry.
The report highlights a lack of funding in the prevention of gambling harm. Last year, only £1.5 million was spent on the prevention of gambling harm in the UK. This compares to £9.5m spent by the New Zealand government even though they have a significantly smaller population than Britain.
To deal with the issue, the British Medical Journal has called for a new Gambling Act that would place the onus of dealing with this growing problem on the industry rather than the individuals.
This would involve a mandatory tax on the gambling industry to fund addiction treatment. Currently businesses in the industry just have to pay a voluntary levy which is the equivalent of 0.1% of their revenues.
To alleviate the strain that gambling addiction puts on the economy and society, new innovative treatments to treat gambling are constantly being innovated. One of these is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a therapy that used magnetic pulses to reduce the symptoms associated with addiction.
Smart TMS is keen to provide commentary in areas such as potential solutions which can alleviate the strain on the NHS,
TMS as a treatment and the effects of gambling addiction on the economy and society.
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