I'm not sure why the Lords were talking about gambling this week, but it seems that they were because Natalie "brain fade" Bennett treated the House to her thoughts.
85% of people gamble hoping for a big win. What makes you think they are desperate? Ever dreamed of winning the lottery and planning how you would spend it? The same survey found 72% gamble because it is fun. The moral panic around gambling is getting absurd. pic.twitter.com/H7SrlKnpk2
— Chris Fawcett (@chrisgambler247) October 30, 2025
Bennett is appalled that the most common reason given by gamblers for their gambling is to win a lot of money. She interprets this as a sign of "desperation" and describes gambling - which the state is "allowing"[!] - as a "tax on desperation". For some reason she failed to mention the second most common reason reported in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain...
Gambling ‘for the chance to win big money’ and ‘because it’s fun’ remain the most popular reasons given as to why respondents gambled.
The same survey found that 48% of Brits gambled in the past 4 weeks, two-thirds of whom played the National Lottery. What other reason could someone have to play the lottery than winning big money? That is the whole point of lotteries. It is how the government markets the lottery (other forms of gambling cannot induce punters with the explicit promise of big wins but the state exempts itself from this restriction, as it does from so many other rules). It is the hope of a big win that makes the National Lottery fun, despite it having the worst odds you'll ever come across.
Meanwhile, left-wing think tanks in Derek Webb's orbit are demanding higher taxes on gambling in the full knowledge that this will lead to punters being given "poorer odds" and a "poorer deal". And yet somehow this will not damage the gambling industry and won't draw gamblers to the black market. I've written about them for The Critic.
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