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GS Misc 875a - Casinos

'That this Synod, gravely concerned that the total national spend on gaming has risen in each year over the past four years from £4 to £40 billion:

(a) endorse the public opposition expressed by church leaders to the introduction of regional and large casinos, and encourage local churches to participate in local authority consultations on plans for new casino applications;

(b) declare its support for programmes of education, research and treatment undertaken with the aim of checking the growth in problem gaming, and request the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to invoke the powers granted by the Gambling Act 2005 to introduce a statutory levy on the gambling industry to fund such programmes;

(c) call upon Her Majesty's Government to monitor the addictive effects of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and to seek an international framework for a code of conduct on internet gambling; and

(d) call upon the Mission and Public Affairs Council to report back to Synod by February 2009 on measures being taken by the churches to combat the detrimental effects of gambling in various forms.'