UK gambling operators have been dragged back to the woodshed by yet another government report equating their existence with virtually everything wrong on this planet.

The Time for Action report by the House of Lords Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry recommends sweeping changes to the local gambling sector, all of which the committee claims “are urgent if consumers are to be protected and lives saved.”

Committee chair Lord Grade of Yarmouth said that while most gamblers “enjoy it safely,” gambling has “made the lives of two million people miserable.” The 66 recommendations in the report aim to replace “lax regulation” with “a more robust and focused regime which prioritizes the welfare of gamblers ahead of industry profits.”

Before we go any further, the (lower-case-R) republican in us feels the need to point out that the House of Lords is an unelected body largely consisting of party bagmen and campaign contributors who never have to justify their decisions to an electorate with the power to remove them from their plum posts. And with that out of the way, let’s crack the cover.