§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if slot machines in pubs fall under his Department's definition of hard gambling; what recent research on this subject his Department has evaluated; and if he will make a statement. [38063]
§ Mr. George HowarthHow hard or soft a particular form of gambling is depends on its intrinsic features and the statutory controls which are applied.
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Project Title Status Publication Age limits for Mother and Baby Units completed Not yet published. Research findings planned Assessment and management of work related stress among Prison Service staff Completed Not yet published—article to go in prison service journal Attitudes of ethnic minorities to crime and criminal justice ongoing Findings to be incorporated on "Young People in multi-ethnic Britain" Attrition of racial incidents cases deferred because of the introduction of new legislation — Classification systems for sex offenders (Part I) ongoing Final report received —Home Office will publish a research findings shortly Community Sentence Demonstration Projects ongoing Comparative costs and performance of private and public prisons completed Review of Comparative Costs and Performance of Privately and Publicly Operated Prisons 1996–97, Prison Service Research Report December 1997 Conceptual Framework for Crime prevention ongoing — Gaming machines in pubs allow rapid re-staking, but to control the risks that poses they have relatively low maximum stake and prize levels (30 pence and £ 10 respectively). Also, in pubs £10 machines are allowed only as an ancillary facility and only in the bar area; and they require specific authorisation by the licensing justices, who normally allow only two or three per establishment.
With these restrictions, such machines have hitherto been considered as relatively soft gambling, but the Government keep the risks under review. We are carefully considering a February 1998 study by Dr. Sue Fisher, published by OFLOT, which identified as problem machine gamblers some 4 per cent. of a sample of nearly 10,000 schoolchildren aged 12– 15 in England and Wales. More of those problem gamblers had played machines in pubs than in any other venue.
We have also expressed support for a proposal by GAMCARE—the national problem gambling charity—to commission a large-scale independent study of gambling of all kinds among people aged 16 and over.