Former gambling addict Matt Smith from BetKnowMore

COUNCILLORS and charities have said the government must change the law to stop gambling venues proliferating on the borough’s high streets.

Town Hall chiefs want new planning powers to reject applications for new betting shops and fruit machine casinos.

The current legislation for local authorities has an “aim to permit” approach.

Now, £250,000 has been given to charities and councils to combat gambling-related harm, including domestic violence, addiction, and mental health problems.

The money comes from the Greo Evidence Centre and the project will be led by mental health charity Mind in Haringey.

The coalition will work over two years, putting together a public awareness campaign for this summer’s football World Cup, and researching the scale and impact of gambling on mental health in north London.

But those involved warned that this funding on its own was not enough to tackle the issue, and that the government needed to take responsibility for preventing gambling harm at a national level.

Matt Smith, a former gambling addict who is in recovery and now works for the charity Betknowmore, said that it was “super important” for the power to be handed to local councils.

He said: “This funding will help to create a more united cross-borough approach, because when I used to gamble I would move from borough to borough, shop to shop. This isn’t a localised issue. There are now 24-hour gambling shops and adult gaming centres across north central London, but local authorities’ hands are tied at the moment.

“What happens because of the ‘aim to permit’ law is that gambling planning applications have to get waved through, and councils feel powerless to stop it. And the key here is the wider health inequalities that affect local areas from gambling related harm.

“And when we’re speaking with the national government we also have to recognise that it goes far beyond public health and needs more attention.”

Islington’s health chief, Councillor Dr Sara Hyde, also called on the government to engage with local councils about a more legislative approach to counteract gambling-related harm.

Cllr Dr Hyde said: “When we come together as the London Gambling Harms Action Group,we’re all very keen to see the end of a presumption to permit, essentially, so that we have more levers as local councils. “To the government, we say: meet with us, listen to us on aim to permit. There’s a lot of councils saying the same thing. And listen to the voice of our residents.”

She added: “My residents in Caledonian ward say to me, ‘we don’t want that 24-hour gaming centre’, I want to be able to say, right, the local authority have got the levers to prevent that.”

Councillors and politicians, including Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East, have been lobbying the government to revoke the aim to permit rules to prevent the proliferation of adult gaming centres in deprived communities.

Responding to a parliamentary question in November 2025 the government said it had “No plans to review the 2005 act’s ‘aim to permit’ provision. However, it does intend to introduce cumulative impact assessments when parliamentary time allows.”