WEST Yorkshire Police recorded hundreds of crimes related to gambling over two years, figures show.

It is one of the forces leading the way in identifying gambling problems.

Online gambling has boomed over the past few years – the Gambling Commission estimates there were 13.4 million players across Great Britain in 2021, up from 12.1 million in 2020.

While the vast majority of players do so responsibly, 'problem' gambling has been linked to crimes such as theft, assault and criminal damage, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests by penal reform charity the Howard League.

They show 227 gambling-related crimes were logged by West Yorkshire Police in 2019 and 2020.

The charity found West Yorkshire Police were among the minority of forces that routinely screens offenders on their gambling habits at the time of the FOI request in the spring of 2021.

According to the charity's report, four in 10 forces are not taking enough action on the impacts of gambling, and just two in 10 routinely screen those in custody on their gambling habits.

Last September, Public Health England estimated over 2.2 million people could be classed as problem gamblers, or were at risk of addiction.

The most common gambling-related offence in West Yorkshire was violence against the person, with 75 counts across 2019 and 2020.

Of the nearly 3,000 crimes recorded by the 37 forces which provided data across England and Wales, this was the most common type of offence, with 1,291 incidents, followed by theft, with 688 incidents, and criminal damage, with 206.

Inspector James Thistlewood, West Yorkshire's Force Lead for Diversion and Reoffending, said: “The work that we have undertaken with partners is about identifying gambling-related issues at the earliest opportunity, ideally before a person reaches crisis point.

“It could be that someone has come into custody for theft or fraud offences, where they have used criminality to fund their gambling problem. However, we also see individuals who have been arrested for domestic abuse offences where a gambling addiction and the financial impact of this problem have been a significant factor in this type of offending.

“We have introduced training for our liaison partners and diversion working throughout our custody suites that enables early identification of a gambling problem with our detainees for signposting into supportive services.

“Through continued use of conditional cautions, the assessment and treatment process provided by gambling support services can be made a mandatory condition of the caution thus reducing the number of individuals going to court.”

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