Labour MP Dawn Butler has called on the government to push for councils to put a stop to the “rapid spread” of betting shops, but the governing party’s members’ views on gambling do not always line up.
Butler’s Brent East constituency, she noted, already has more than 100 gambling premises, which she said has pushed her to campaign to call for more preventative measures against companies targeting the high streets.
A familiar topic has arisen, the question of whether bookmakers target more vulnerable communities, as Butler notes: “Why are there barely any betting shops in Canary Wharf but rows of them in places like Bethnal Green?”
