Bishops' concerns on gambling.

London -- Prompted by the growth of unregulated Internet gambling, the latest face of a billion-pound industry, the British government is currently putting through committee a new gambling bill. Intended to regularize the industry, it will see the start of Las Vegas-style casinos in all major towns (open 24/7) and betting permitted even on Good Friday and Christmas Day. On the plus side, the bill's promoters claim it will reduce underage gambling and require operators to contribute to a three-million-pound fund for the rehabilitation of compulsive gamblers.

Because of the sizable Labour majority in the British Parliament, the bill is likely to pass. However, it has been resolutely opposed by religious groups such as the Methodists, the Salvation Army and now the Catholic Church. Archbishop Peter Smith, the Catholic bishops' spokesman, pointed out that, while gambling is not prohibited to Catholics, it "becomes morally unacceptable when it becomes obsessive or leads to ... suffering through loss of money." He urged further amendments on the bill to counter the deleterious effects of gambling on the young and on other vulnerable members of society. Religious groups forecast that the only sectors which will benefit from the gambling bill are the industry itself and the government, which stands to rake in an extra 260 million pounds a year in tax revenues.

Canadian bishops, notably in the prairie provinces, have spoken out in the past on the dangers of gambling, as has a prominent Philippines prelate. Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan has long campaigned against the national obsession with "jueteng" and the corruption surrounding it. In October 2004, he turned down a police offer of protection against threats made to his safety (Cath. Herald, Oct. 29, 2004; Nat. Cath. Reg. Oct. 31, 2004).