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, (a) how many customer suicides have been reported by gambling operators for the past three years, (b) which operators have reported these and (c) how many of these suicides have been investigated by the Gambling Commission.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Since the start of 2018, the Gambling Commission has been notified of and investigated reports of eight deaths by suicide where gambling may have been a factor. Seven of these cases were reported to it by the operator and one by family members. Operators who are aware of a death by suicide which may be linked to their gambling facilities are expected to notify the Commission so that the Commission can investigate whether there has been a breach of social responsibility codes and licence conditions and whether enforcement action is appropriate. It does not publish the names of operators which have reported information about deaths, but details of its findings following concluded enforcement action are published on its website.
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 recent discussions she has had with the financial services sector to help prevent harmful gambling.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the important role banks and other financial services can play in supporting efforts to tackle gambling related harm. Since 2019, when the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, convened a roundtable of banks and other stakeholders in the financial sector to encourage them to do more in this regard many banks have acted to offer their customers the option to block card transactions and we estimate this is now available for approximately 90% of UK current accounts.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury and I will shortly co-convene a roundtable with the financial services industry to explore further steps the sector could take.
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 facilitate discussions between the gambling industry and financial services institutions to ensure gambling operators provide data to prevent harm.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the important role banks and other financial services can play in supporting efforts to tackle gambling related harm. Since 2019, when the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, convened a roundtable of banks and other stakeholders in the financial sector to encourage them to do more in this regard many banks have acted to offer their customers the option to block card transactions and we estimate this is now available for approximately 90% of UK current accounts.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury and I will shortly co-convene a roundtable with the financial services industry to explore further steps the sector could take.
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 in the forthcoming gambling White Paper to end online gambling via payment mechanisms other than direct debit such as Klarna and alternative payment systems.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. Our call for evidence included questions on new and emerging technologies, delivery and payment methods. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish 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 she will take steps in the forthcoming gambling White Paper to end front of shirt sponsorship by gambling companies which do not have an operational website and offer gambling via cryptocurrency.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All gambling companies providing gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based, must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the conditions and codes of practice of their operating licences. Operators who provide services marketed under a different brand as part of a ‘white label’ agreement are held accountable by the Commission for the actions of their commercial partners, and are expected to carry out all necessary due diligence to ensure the agreement will not compromise their own regulatory compliance.
Licensed gambling operators and their white label partners are entitled to enter into commercial arrangements with sporting bodies, as long as any sponsorship activities are carried out in a socially responsible way. The Commission expects licensees to ensure that all parties are aware of, and compliant with, the relevant advertising and sponsorship rules and regulations.
Operators are also required to declare the arrangements through which they accept payment from customers to the Commission. This includes changes to the payment methods (including cryptoassets) or payment processors made available to customers to pay for gambling services. To date, no licensed operators have notified the Gambling Commission that they are accepting digital currencies or cryptoassets directly as payments but several have reported indirectly accepting funds derived from cryptoassets via a third party payment provider. In these cases, funds accepted by the licensee for gambling have been converted to fiat currency (£).
The Government is looking closely at the evidence regarding sports sponsorship by gambling operators and ‘white label’ arrangements as part of the wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act. We will publish a White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps 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 she will take steps in the forthcoming gambling White Paper to end football club sponsorship by gambling companies which do not have an operational website and which offer gambling via cryptocurrency.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All gambling companies providing gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based, must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the conditions and codes of practice of their operating licences. Operators who provide services marketed under a different brand as part of a ‘white label’ agreement are held accountable by the Commission for the actions of their commercial partners, and are expected to carry out all necessary due diligence to ensure the agreement will not compromise their own regulatory compliance.
Licensed gambling operators and their white label partners are entitled to enter into commercial arrangements with sporting bodies, as long as any sponsorship activities are carried out in a socially responsible way. The Commission expects licensees to ensure that all parties are aware of, and compliant with, the relevant advertising and sponsorship rules and regulations.
Operators are also required to declare the arrangements through which they accept payment from customers to the Commission. This includes changes to the payment methods (including cryptoassets) or payment processors made available to customers to pay for gambling services. To date, no licensed operators have notified the Gambling Commission that they are accepting digital currencies or cryptoassets directly as payments but several have reported indirectly accepting funds derived from cryptoassets via a third party payment provider. In these cases, funds accepted by the licensee for gambling have been converted to fiat currency (£).
The Government is looking closely at the evidence regarding sports sponsorship by gambling operators and ‘white label’ arrangements as part of the wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act. We will publish a White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps 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 assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of organisations that claim to uphold gambling standards representing companies that are being investigated for black market activities.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All gambling companies offering gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based, must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the conditions and codes of practice of their operating licences. Operators are expected to obey the laws of all other jurisdictions in which they operate, and must report any regulatory or criminal investigation into their activities in any jurisdiction to the Commission. Operators must also report the granting, withdrawal or refusal of any application for a licence in another jurisdiction. These requirements, along with the international cooperation the Commission enjoys with other gambling regulators, enable the Commission to make the necessary ongoing assessments of an operator’s suitability to hold a GB licence. It is for the responsible authorities in each jurisdiction to determine whether operators’ activities comply with the applicable rules.
Further information on what the Gambling Commission expects from its licensed operators regarding their operations in other jurisdictions can be found in the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice:
Our Review of the Gambling Act 2005 is looking widely at the framework of gambling regulation in Great Britain, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission.
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, whether she has plans to remove gambling licences in the UK from operators that are found to be engaged in black market activity.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
All gambling companies offering gambling facilities to consumers in Great Britain, wherever they are based, must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the conditions and codes of practice of their operating licences. Operators are expected to obey the laws of all other jurisdictions in which they operate, and must report any regulatory or criminal investigation into their activities in any jurisdiction to the Commission. Operators must also report the granting, withdrawal or refusal of any application for a licence in another jurisdiction. These requirements, along with the international cooperation the Commission enjoys with other gambling regulators, enable the Commission to make the necessary ongoing assessments of an operator’s suitability to hold a GB licence. It is for the responsible authorities in each jurisdiction to determine whether operators’ activities comply with the applicable rules.
Further information on what the Gambling Commission expects from its licensed operators regarding their operations in other jurisdictions can be found in the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice:
Our Review of the Gambling Act 2005 is looking widely at the framework of gambling regulation in Great Britain, including the powers and resources of the Gambling Commission.
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 discussions she has had with the Gambling Commission on Sky Vegas or its parent company Flutter offering free spins to recovering addicts during Safer Gambling Week.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Commission requires operators to take steps to remove the name and details of self-excluded individuals from any marketing databases used by the company or on behalf of the company. Failure to do so is a breach of their licence conditions. If licence conditions are found to have been breached, the Commission has a range of sanctions available from issuing an official warning to imposing financial penalties or additional licence conditions, suspending a licence and revoking a licence. Ministers and officials in DCMS meet regularly with the Gambling Commission to discuss a range of regulatory issues, including investigatory and enforcement work.
In the case of communications sent from Sky Vegas to self-excluded individuals on the 2nd November, the operator has reported itself to the Gambling Commission and taken immediate steps to prevent any further breaches. The Commission will carry out a thorough investigation and determine whether regulatory action should be taken.
As part of our wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act the government is looking closely at promotional offers and inducements offered by gambling operators, along with other forms of advertising and marketing and the Gambling Commission’s powers and resources. A White Paper setting out our next steps and proposals for reform will be published in due course.
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 the Gambling Commission has taken to protect vulnerable gamblers in response to Sky Vegas’ breach of licence terms by failing to remove self-excluded people from marketing communications.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Commission requires operators to take steps to remove the name and details of self-excluded individuals from any marketing databases used by the company or on behalf of the company. Failure to do so is a breach of their licence conditions. If licence conditions are found to have been breached, the Commission has a range of sanctions available from issuing an official warning to imposing financial penalties or additional licence conditions, suspending a licence and revoking a licence. Ministers and officials in DCMS meet regularly with the Gambling Commission to discuss a range of regulatory issues, including investigatory and enforcement work.
In the case of communications sent from Sky Vegas to self-excluded individuals on the 2nd November, the operator has reported itself to the Gambling Commission and taken immediate steps to prevent any further breaches. The Commission will carry out a thorough investigation and determine whether regulatory action should be taken.
As part of our wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act the government is looking closely at promotional offers and inducements offered by gambling operators, along with other forms of advertising and marketing and the Gambling Commission’s powers and resources. A White Paper setting out our next steps and proposals for reform will be published in due course.