Mayor accused of going back on promise to ban gambling adverts on TFL network

The mayor promised to ban gambling adverts in his 2021 manifesto.

Transcript

00:00The mayor promised in his 2021 re-election manifesto that Transport for London would

00:07be told to ban promotions for casinos and gambling websites. It is now 2025 and evidently

00:16this has not happened. When the City Hall's Green Party leader Caroline Russell asked

00:23Sir Sadiq when the policy would be implemented, he said he wanted to hear more detail about

00:30the government's plans before any further action. Perhaps controversially, TfL has been

00:38earning substantial revenue from gambling adverts, bringing in over £663,000 between

00:47April 2022 and March 2023. City Hall has however defended the lack of action with

00:55health adviser Dr Tom Coffey suggesting a ban on gambling adverts had been delayed

01:03because City Hall could be subject to a legal challenge. Caroline Russell, who as I mentioned

01:08is the Green Party leader at City Hall, told the local democracy reporting service she

01:16had heard devastating testimony from people harmed by gambling, adding she does not understand

01:25why the mayor says he needs more evidence. She added Londoners who struggle with gambling

01:34need support, instead they are faced with adverts that normalise and glamorise gambling

01:41as they travel on the transport network.