Often portrayed as a harmless leisure activity in the UK, gambling is being increasingly recognised as a public health concern. However, a gambling policy system that explicitly tackles public health concerns and confronts the dependencies and conflicts of interest that undermine the public good is absent in the UK. Although there is a window of opportunity to change the gambling policy system, with the UK Government's launch of a review of the Gambling Act 2005, the adoption of a comprehensive and meaningful public health approach is not guaranteed. Too often, government policy has employed discourses that align more closely with those of the gambling industry than with those of the individuals, families, and communities affected by the harms of gambling. In view of the well described commercial determinants of health and corporate behaviour, an immense effort will be needed to shift the gambling discourse to protect public health. In this Viewpoint, we seek to advance this agenda by identifying elements that need challenging and stimulating debate.

在英国，赌博通常被描绘成一种无害的休闲活动，越来越多地被认为是一种公共卫生问题。然而，明确解决公共卫生问题并应对破坏公共利益的依赖和利益冲突的赌博政策体系在英国并不存在。尽管存在改变赌博政策体系的机会之窗，但随着英国政府启动对 2005 年赌博法的审查，并不能保证采用全面且有意义的公共卫生方法。与受赌博危害影响的个人、家庭和社区的话语相比，政府政策所采用的话语与赌博业的话语更接近。鉴于健康和企业行为的商业决定因素得到充分描述，需要付出巨大的努力来改变赌博话语以保护公众健康。在这个观点中，我们寻求通过确定需要具有挑战性和刺激性辩论的元素来推进这一议程。