Gambling Act 2005 (Monetary Limits for Lotteries) Bill

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

2nd reading
Friday 24th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for bringing forward this private Member’s Bill. We all recognise what the Bill is trying to achieve and agree that the Government should look at a review into this area. I also thank her for her recognition of the harms of gambling. I have friends who are recovering gambling addicts, and I know what a huge and damaging impact it has had on their lives.

I want to take a moment to recognise some of the charities in my constituency, many of which I have had first-hand experience of working with. I had the honour of working for Streets to Homes, a charity that supports homeless people, rough sleepers and the hidden homeless. There is also Action for Family Carers—a speech does not go by without me mentioning young carers in this place—and Razed Roof, an inclusive theatre company that I had the pleasure of visiting yesterday. In short, it gives adults with learning difficulties the opportunity not only to socialise, but to thrive and be a huge part of the community. I look forward to its performance at the Holocaust Memorial Day service on Sunday.

I will quickly mention YCT—another charity of which I am a trustee—which provides counselling support to young people in my constituency. The problem with mentioning charities in our constituencies is that there is always a danger of missing one out—I am sure that I will get an email later. I will quickly mention Livewire, Butterfly Effect Wellbeing, Rainbow Services and, as mentioned by the hon. Member for North East Fife, the Michael Roberts Charitable Trust.

I will talk briefly about my issues with funding for charities, having worked in the charity sector myself. When charities look at getting funding, that funding is often very short term, and funding organisations always talk about new projects yet fail to recognise that quite a lot of charities just need ongoing funding for the important work they already do. I really emphasise the importance of looking at that.

I will finish by quoting my favourite Prime Minister and—controversially—disagreeing with him.

[Christian Wakeford (Bury South) (Lab)]

Which one?

[Chris Vince]

Members will work it out. He once said:

“Charity is a cold grey loveless thing.”

We can all agree that we live in a very different world from when Clement Attlee was Prime Minister. The charities in my constituency of Harlow do a great deal of important work—I know that as I have been part of that myself—and I think we all agree that how they are funded needs to be looked at. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response, when she can talk us through that.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)]

I thank the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for bringing forward this motion. Society lotteries provide vital funding for hundreds of charities, community groups and sports clubs. Indeed, I have seen the impact of that in my own constituency of Barnsley South, where society lotteries such as the People’s Postcode Lottery are benefiting great local causes, from DIAL, which supports disabled people, to Magic Breakfast, which provides kids with a meal to start the school day. In that context, the Government have a clear message: we want society lotteries to thrive.

In the interests of time, I want to be clear from the outset that the Government have a clear commitment to update the House on our position with regard to society lotteries by the summer recess, once we are in receipt of the independent research, which I will come to discuss if there is time. We are not yet in receipt of the final research, but we understand that that will be here by the end of next month. I make that clear commitment to update the House by the summer recess—we have had discussions to that effect.

As hon. Members will know, there have long been mandatory conditions and limits on sales and prizes for society lotteries. Those have been reviewed and adjusted before, most recently by the previous Government, who introduced new sales limits for society lotteries, increasing the annual ticket sales limit fivefold, from £10 million to £50 million. Of course, umbrella lottery organisations may also operate with multiple licences: for example, the People’s Postcode Lottery currently holds 20 operator licences and is therefore able to sell a combined total of £1 billion-worth of tickets each year.

I acknowledge the strength of feeling behind the proposal in the Bill to remove the annual sales limits for society lotteries. I would like to speak briefly about some of the factors that the Government will consider for potential reform. Of course, we must reflect on where the sector is now and where it may be in future. The current picture is broadly positive, with recent evidence showing that society lotteries have continued to grow in popularity since the limits were changed in 2020. The vast majority of society lotteries are also currently operating well within existing limits.

However, the Government do recognise the challenge for large-scale umbrella lotteries, some of which have multiple licences for multiple trusts, and we know that a small number of those may reach a limit within the following year and that there are costs associated with operating in that way. We do not take this lightly, but it is worth noting that the current system does not hinder overall sales of society lottery tickets for those organisations.

Further to that, our support for lotteries raising as much money as possible is unwavering. We are also keen to better understand how the growth in sales is translating into the investment in good causes. The current picture suggests that higher sales have not led to an equivalent increase in funding for good causes, and there may be room to improve that.

A second element is the research that I referenced. The current evidence and data show that society lotteries are growing in popularity and revenue. The Government have commissioned independent research into the lotteries market as a whole to help us strengthen that evidence base ahead of any further review of limits. This research—