Young People: Gambling Harm

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Foster of Bath]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reduce gambling harm among young people.

[Lord Foster of Bath (LD)]

My Lords, I begin by congratulating the Minister on what appear to be yet more responsibilities that she is taking on. I welcome this opportunity to debate with her what the Government plan to do to reduce gambling harm among children and young people. In doing so, I declare my interest as chair of Peers for Gambling Reform.

We have long accepted a simple principle: where there is clear evidence that commercial activity harms children, government has a duty to intervene, adopting a public health approach. We have accepted that principle in relation to tobacco, to alcohol and, more recently, to vapes. We are applying it to unhealthy food, to social media, to alcohol and again, more recently, to high-caffeine energy drinks. The same should surely apply to gambling. Yes, of course it is illegal for children to gamble, but a very large number do, so we are clearly not doing enough, despite the protection of children and young people being a core licensing objective in the ill-conceived Gambling Act 2005.

Last year, the Gambling Commission found that 59% of young people had taken part in some form of gambling in the previous year, that 30% had used their own money in doing so and that three in 10 children see members of their own family gambling. Most worryingly of all, it found that some 80,000 children are suffering gambling harm: in common parlance, 80,000 children are gambling addicts and many thousands more are at risk of becoming so. We need to do more to catch up with the rapidly changing gambling landscape, because children today encounter gambling brands almost everywhere. They see gambling companies sponsoring football shirts, stadiums and competitions. They watch televised sports with gambling promotions before, during and after the event. They receive gambling-related content through social media algorithms. They see influencers promoting betting products. Many play games containing gambling-like features such as loot boxes and social casinos that blur the line between gaming and gambling. This constant exposure matters, because it normalises gambling for children, who are learning to see gambling as a routine part of sport, of entertainment, of gaming and of online life.

Dealing with all this is a public health issue, and while the Government are not doing enough, many parts of local government are doing their best. Many councils have already banned gambling advertising on their premises, their land and their vehicles, and others have gone even further. For instance, ahead of the 2022 World Cup, one council launched its anti-gambling harms campaign, “Odds Are: They Win”. It pointed to harmful industry practices having a negative impact on people’s, including children’s, health and well-being, finances, work, relationships and so on. It made it clear that whatever the gambling product, whoever the gambling operator and whichever way you look at it, the odds are they win. The council leader said

“the main aim of the gambling operators is to maximise profits. These profits are the result of customer losses which, particularly during this cost of living crisis, risk having a seriously detrimental impact on people’s lives”.

He went on to say:

“The review of the Gambling Act is now well overdue and the Government must take this opportunity to do more to protect our residents and people right across the country from the harmful practices of the gambling industry”.


That council leader was our new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, so when she responds, I hope the Minister will have her Prime Minister’s words ringing in her ears.

To identify what more could be done, Peers for Gambling Reform recently hosted a round table of experts in the field. Their recommendations included, first, ending the Government’s nonsense claim that that it is possible to grow the gambling industry while reducing gambling harm. Way back in 2018, academics claimed that

“preventing gambling-related harm is not possible without limiting the overall volume of the activity, and hence the profits for the gambling industry”.

Recently, four reports all show that by reducing the volume of gambling activity in the country, the country’s economy would be strengthened and not weakened. Will the Minister at last accept that the Government have got this wrong?

Secondly, experts recommended restricting gambling advertising, marketing and sponsorship. Clearly, with 79% of children recalling gambling advertisements, current safeguards are not working. I even saw a computer game the other day with an age rating of 4+ containing gambling advertisements. The UK has more evidence on the harmful effects of gambling advertising than almost any other country in the world, but we are taking much less action. Does the Minister accept that reducing harm among children and young people requires reducing their exposure to gambling advertising? Does she agree with her Prime Minister, who said:

“For the sake of children and young people, it’s time to take a stand … we can relegate gambling sponsorship of sport to the history books”.


I entirely agree with the Prime Minister.

Thirdly, there were recommendations to require greater accountability of digital platforms. Children encounter gambling marketing online through content marketing—designed not to look like advertising—sports commentary, influencer-style content, livestream gambling, affiliate promotions and, of course, illegal offshore operators. Can the Minister say whether the Government will place a specific duty on online platforms to prevent under-18s being exposed to gambling advertising?

Fourthly, experts recommend addressing the convergence of gaming and gambling. Loot boxes, skin gambling, crypto gambling, social casino games and esports-linked gambling are all areas where existing legal definitions and voluntary approaches are insufficient. There is clear evidence of a stable and consistent association between loot box use and problem gambling, with risks likely to be higher for children and young people. Will the Government move beyond the failed industry self-regulation and bring loot boxes and gaming-like digital products within a stronger regulatory framework?

The round table identified other recommendations, such as greater protection for young adults, who are more likely than older adults to experience gambling harm, and further development of the welcome introduction of a gambling element into the PSHE component of the school curriculum—I believe that should be strengthened still further, and my noble friend Lord Addington will touch on this later. All need to be addressed as public health issues, without the involvement of the commercial interests of gambling companies.

Future generations will not ask whether Parliament debated these issues; they will ask whether we acted while the evidence, a vast amount of it, was already before us. I hope that when they do, they will be able to say that this House once again played its part in putting the protection of children ahead of commercial interest. I look forward to the Minister’s response.