Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the White Paper on the gambling review.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Act Review is a priority for the department. We will publish a White Paper with our conclusions in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many national lottery participants there are each year on average; and how much on average is lost by the highest spending players.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Data from the National Lottery operator suggests that in 2020/21 c.68% of UK adults played National Lottery games once a year or more. This equates to more than 37 million people buying a National Lottery ticket in 2020/21. Around 60% of people played once a quarter.
The Gambling Commission’s Quarterly Telephone Survey suggests that for the years ending 2019 and 2020, the 12-month rolling average of people aged 16 and over who had participated in any National Lottery game within the past four weeks ranged from 31.1% (an estimated 16,427,547 people when applied to UK mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics) to 34.1% (an estimated 17,930,097 people).
The Gambling Commission does not routinely hold data in respect of how much on average is lost by the highest spending National Lottery players. However, the Gambling Commission regularly monitors a range of player spend data, which includes outlier groups and specific cohorts of players, in line with its statutory duty to ensure the interests of participants in the National Lottery are protected.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ban the National Lottery from using its brand to promote online instant-win games that may lead to problem gambling.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Lottery offers a range of products including draw-based games, interactive instant win games and scratchcards.
All games, including instant win games, are licensed by the Gambling Commission, either at a category or individual game level. The Gambling Commission has three statutory duties with regard to the National Lottery (shared with DCMS) - to ensure the National Lottery is run with due propriety, to protect the interests of players, and subject to this, to maximise returns to good causes.
In determining whether to licence, the Gambling Commission will consider the potential impact on players and the player protection mechanisms which are in place to protect players from harm.
Further information can be found within the National Lottery Consumer Protection Strategy. This strategy means that the Gambling Commission can be confident that National Lottery games have a very low risk of causing harm to players.
Evidence from the latest (2018) Health Survey for England shows that National Lottery games were associated with the lowest rates of problem gambling of all gambling products considered. Problem gambling rates for National Lottery draw-based games were 0.9% while the figure for scratchcards was 1.4%. By comparison, the problem gambling rates for other activities covered by the survey ranged from 2.7% to 12.7%.
Whenever the Gambling Commission have had concerns they have been quick to take action. In 2020, the Gambling Commission commissioned research to better understand the players of Interactive Instant Win Games. The research found an association between players of Interactive Instant Win Games at the £10 price point and some problem gambling behaviours. As a result of this research, the operator withdrew all £10 IIWGs from circulation.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of whether players can sell items won in video game loot boxes for real-world money.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the value of loot box grey markets where players can trade items between accounts.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the total value of microtransactions from loot boxes in video games in (a) 2020 and (b) 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to (a) assess whether loot boxes are harmful to children and (b) gather further data in this area.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will classify loot boxes as a form of gambling in the upcoming review of the Gambling Act 2005.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to publish the response to its 2020 consultation on loot boxes in video games.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government undertook a call for evidence from September to November 2020 to examine concerns around loot boxes in video games. We are continuing to evaluate the evidence from more than 30,000 responses that we received, along with an independent Rapid Evidence Assessment commissioned from the InGAME research and innovation centre. Additionally, we have continued a dialogue with the games industry to address issues identified from the evidence.
We will publish the response to the call for evidence in the coming months. As part of this, we will set out findings from the call for evidence and outline next steps to take action where needed.
The Gambling Act Review is ongoing and we will publish our conclusions through a White Paper in the coming months.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 88799, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the Gambling Commission investigating a total of eight deaths by suicide where gambling may have been a factor since the start of 2018, in the context of Public Health England's September 2021 estimate that there are 409 gambling-related suicides a year; and in relation to those eight investigations, how many times the Commission reported the findings of its investigation to the coroner conducting the inquest into each death.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government does not collect statistics on suicides where gambling may have been a factor, although Public Health England’s evidence review estimated on the basis of two overseas studies that there may be 409 such deaths each year. The Department of Health and Social Care is working to improve data collection and address other evidence gaps identified in the report.
Operators who are aware of a death by suicide which may be linked to their gambling facilities are expected to notify the Gambling Commission so that it can investigate whether there has been a breach of social responsibility codes and take action where appropriate. Coroners’ jurisdiction does not extend to determining the underlying reasons for a person’s death, and the Commission does not routinely notify them of its findings. However, it has assisted a coroner in making their overall findings on the circumstances of an individual’s death in two cases since the beginning of 2018. The Commission co-operates with coroner inquiries whenever they are made, usually by providing information about the regulation of the gambling industry.