Is gambling immoral?

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2025 on Saturday 18 October at Church House and the Abbey Centre, Westminster.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

In the summer of 2025, the think tank IPPR revived the idea of sharp rises in the ‘sin taxes’ on gambling. Not only is this intended to increase revenues for the Treasury, but it also chimes with a longstanding idea: that gambling is wrong and immoral. Many religions have always taken this approach. Our fortunes, they say, should not purely be down to chance. They criticise gambling as it gives us the idea that we can solve all our problems if we simply get lucky on that one occasion.

But across many countries in Europe, national lotteries – the biggest games of chance – are promoted by all governments, regardless of their political views. In the UK, the state doesn’t hide the odds of winning the jackpot – less than 45million to one for the UK Lotto draw – as the official symbol for the National Lottery is a big sign with two fingers crossed for luck.
But other forms of gambling, like slot machines and random casino games of chance, (especially online) are seen very differently. Media headlines talk about ‘problem gambling’ and ‘addictive behaviour’, and there are calls for new and stricter regulations when it comes to these types of gambling.

Should we be concerned about how people spend their money? Is gambling an activity which is inherently negative? Should we therefore take a different approach to the regulation of gambling, where we seek to look after those who need protection from this activity, particularly when gambling adverts are almost ubiquitous? Or should we argue against ‘nanny state’ legislation that hinders the freedom of adults to engage in a what is, for the vast majority of people, a relatively harmless leisure activity?

SPEAKERS
Jon Bryan
gambling writer and poker player

Matt Zarb-Cousin
director, Clean up Gambling; co-founder, Gamban

CHAIR
John O’Brien
head of communications, MCC Brussels