Harm behind the counter: ‘regulatory labour’ and the offloading of risk onto front‐line employees in the post‐Gambling Act era

Abstract Under‐explored in socio‐legal discussions of the legal and regulatory structures focused on harm reduction in gambling, alcohol consumption, and other liberalized consumer activities are the specific ways in which these are interpreted and deployed by front‐line staff in the context of their existing forms of labour and employment pressures. Based on interviews with current and former employees of betting shops in the United Kingdom, and analysis of the legal and regulatory structures that shape the post‐Gambling Act betting shop, we propose a new reading of the concept of ‘regulatory labour’ to understand these tensions. Our analysis shows the urgent need to look beyond current depictions of neoliberal deregulation; regulatory frameworks focused on harm reduction themselves generate new forms of harm, undermining existing forms of relational labour and enabling operators to offload the risks of gambling harm onto their lowest‐paid employees while also expanding their powers of surveillance over both staff and customers.