Asylum seekers use taxpayer money for gambling
Migrants are using their pre-paid benefits cards in gambling venues such as bookmakers, amusement arcades and casinos.
Up to 6,537 asylum seekers have used the government cards at least once in the past year in a gambling venue, according to the figures released under Freedom of Information laws to the PoliticsHome website.
The disclosure sparked calls for an immediate clampdown to prevent the abuse of taxpayers' money by asylum seekers, including many who entered the country illegally. The cards are supposed to be used to pay for basics including food and clothing.
The Home Office confirmed it was investigating the illegal use of Aspen cards.
'The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers, including any dependents, who would otherwise be destitute,' a spokesman said.
Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, said: 'You shouldn't be able to use Aspen cards for this. Support for asylum seekers in the UK, it is not a lot of money, it is about £7 a day I think for essentials, but you should be using that for essentials, you shouldn't be able to use it for this.
'It is very concerning, it shouldn't happen, there is an immediate investigation to find out exactly what has gone on here.'
'Slapping taxpayer in the face'
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'These people have illegally entered this country without needing to – France is safe and no one needs to flee from there.
'The British taxpayer has put them up in hotels and now they slap us in the face by using the money they are given to fund gambling. These illegal immigrants clearly don't need the money they are given if they are squandering it at casinos and arcades
'Everyone illegally crossing the Channel should be immediately removed to their country of origin or a safe third country in order to deter these crossings.'
Asylum seekers are issued with Aspen cards by the Home Office while their claims are processed. Migrants in self-catered accommodation receive £49.18 on the card each week to pay for 'clothes and footwear, non-prescription medicines, travel, food, non-alcoholic drinks, toiletries, laundry, toilet paper and communications'.
The cards are currently issued to around 80,000 asylum seekers who are waiting for a decision on whether they have a valid claim to stay in the UK. Many are living in hotels at the taxpayers' expense.
The Home Office is able to track where the cards are used but does not block payments for particular types of transaction.
The figures break down how many asylum seekers attempted to use their cards in gambling venues each week. They do not record how many times each individual attempted to use their card in that week.
They show that an average of 125 asylum seekers a week used their cards with 'gambling-related merchants'.
Dozens used the cards every week, with 177 using them to gamble in Christmas week when many venues are closed. The figures peaked at 227 in one week at the end of November last year.
The Aspen cards use a chip and pin system so cannot be used for contactless payments or online.
A Home Office source said it was 'not possible' to use the cards to directly place a bet. However, the data is understood to include withdrawals made from cash machines inside venues such as amusement arcades and casinos – where gambling is the sole focus.
Paul Bristow, Tory mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, told PoliticsHome: 'Peterborough has seen a huge increase in the number of gambling establishments and gaming centres, and a huge increase in men who have arrived on small boats.
'It's not unusual to see the very same men in some of the establishments on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. There's something going on here. Questions need to be asked. It would be absolutely wrong if they were using money given to them by British taxpayers to waste on gambling.'
Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice said: 'This revelation, coupled with migrants working illegally, shows that the Home Office is incapable of policing the illegal migrant population. This is a slap in the face to hardworking British taxpayers who are struggling to make ends meet.'
The disclosure comes amid growing unrest over the policy of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels across the country. Protests have been staged in recent days in Epping, in Essex, Diss in Norfolk and Canary Wharf, in London.
Asylum seekers are barred from working for the first year while their claim is processed. The Aspen cards were introduced to provide basic subsistence as they are not eligible to work.
However, some asylum seekers have been illegally working particularly in the gig economy with delivery firms such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, sparking a government crackdown.
This week Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, announced the firms will be issued with data on the locations of asylum hotels in order to track down migrants who have been illegally loaned accounts by delivery staff.
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