‘I was on Million Pound Shot — the show Andy Burnham needs to watch’

A campaigner who appeared on a game show hoax has called on the government to crack down on the gambling industry.

Bradley Walsh’s Million Pound Shot, which appeared on Channel 4 on Sunday, has sparked conversation across the country after it was revealed to be a hoax, taking the gambling industry to task for using “abusive tactics” on people.

The fake game show, fronted by presenter Bradley Walsh, dangled a million pounds in front of contestants and took a nasty turn when a player appeared to lose thousands in a near miss. A row appeared to break out in the audience as a studio protester called the proceedings “wrong and disgusting,” with other members disagreeing.

As the show grew uncomfortable to watch, it appeared to be briefly taken off-air before Mr Walsh re-emerged to tell the live studio audience: “What you just witnessed was a performance by actors. Everything you’ve seen tonight draws on techniques used by the gambling industry to manipulate its customers.”

Will Prochaska, director of the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA), has told The Independent he hopes the government and the prime minister will watch the faux-show and take action against the industry.

“What we really need is for the government to watch it and to understand that most of the tricks, or almost all the tricks that were played in the show are legal and are regulated by the Gambling Commission and are endorsed by the government. And so this is happening in plain sight. It's happening to millions of people across Britain,” he said.

Mr Prochaska not only provided the research to help make the show, but he appeared on it, and was stood behind the scenes watching on for much of it. The audience, bar a couple of actors, were unaware that they were part of a hoax to raise awareness of the gambling industry as they took part in the recording.

“Even having worked in this area for six or seven years, I felt quite emotional watching it, because I'd never before seen it portrayed, what was actually happening on the other side of a computer screen, really. When the industry is pulling people's strings and deploying its abusive tactics against them. So I found it quite hard to watch, and I know that the audience members, a number of them, were in tears actually. When the actor stood up and said, ‘this needs to end,’ they were already feeling really upset.”

He said that the audience’s reaction wasn’t far off the anger the British public has often expressed against the gambling sector.

“Poll after poll shows that the British public really don't like the gambling companies. They really can't stand the advertising. They're very worried about the impact of the gambling industry on harm and yet we haven't been able to mobilise the public in the same way as other campaigns, for example social media.”

The prime minister has himself expressed disagreement with the gambling sector. Before he entered No 10 Downing Street he called for the prohibition of gambling ads.

“We need this to help motivate and energise Andy Burnham to come good on what he thought would be the right thing to do before he was prime minister,” he said. “We need Andy Burnham to come good on his promises, because before he was elected, he showed real commitment to this cause.

“He's actually called for a prohibition on gambling ads. He called for greater regulations on high street betting premises, which he is coming good on.”

Measures in chancellor John Healey’s budget are expected to hit gambling firms hard. Gambling firms will see duty on machine games with stakes over £1 rise from 20 per cent to 25 per cent from April next year to help pay for an extension of business rates support for a raft of high street businesses.

A Gambling Commission spokesperson said: "We want a fairer and safer gambling market which is why we closely monitor industry products and practices and take tough enforcement action when appropriate.

"We have implemented a wide range of consumer protections in recent years including banning autoplay, tightening rules on free bets and restricting direct marketing.

"All operators are required to lookout for and act on the warnings signs of harm such as consumers spending large amounts of time and money gambling.

"We would also ask anyone who thinks they have evidence of an operator breaching our rules to supply it to us for further investigation".

A DCMS spokesperson said: “The government is committed to reducing gambling-related harm and increasing protections. We have raised advertising standards, ensuring it does not encourage harmful or excessive gambling and reducing children and young people’s exposure to it.

“We are cracking down on illegal gambling advertising online through our Illegal Gambling Taskforce and plan to ban unlicensed gambling operators from sponsorship and advertising deals. The Gambling Commission is also introducing financial risk assessments to protect high spenders most at risk.

“We will continue working with regulators and industry to ensure gambling advertising is appropriate, responsible, and does not exacerbate harm."