Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of running the National Lottery as a not-for-profit enterprise.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Gambling Commission is the UK’s independent statutory body responsible for awarding the licence to run the National Lottery. The current National Lottery licence expires in 2023, and the Commission remains on track to appoint an operator to take on the new licence from this date. The competition is expected to commence in the first half of 2020, with the successful applicant being announced in 2021.
The Commission is encouraged by the healthy level of market interest, from a wide range of interested parties, and will welcome as many applications as possible to the competition, including not-for-profit enterprises. I am looking forward to a robust competition that draws in a wide range of applicants to ensure the continued success of our National Lottery for the next 25 years and beyond.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much money has been (a) pledged and (b) distributed to good causes by the National Lottery; and what estimate he has made of the average length of time of delays in the distribution of that money in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF) receives and distributes monies generated by the National Lottery for good causes. Information on good cause money that has been pledged (also known as grant liabilities and commitments) and distributed (drawdown) by Lottery Distributing Bodies (LDBs) can be found in the NLDF Annual Report and Accounts.
The NLDF always holds a balance to cover future grant commitments made by LDBs and to mitigate any risk of good cause income falling. Lottery distributors receive money from the NLDF on a weekly or monthly basis to enable them to meet their grant commitments.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
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 tickets were sold in each (a) region and (b) constituency area in each of the last 10 years; and how much National Lottery funding was received in each (i) region and (ii) constituency area in each of those years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The current operator of the National Lottery, Camelot, publish National Lottery sales data three months in arrears broken down by game type on their website. Sales data broken down to regional or constituency level is not published due to commercial sensitivities.
Information on National Lottery funding awards up to January 2018 is held on a publicly available database which allows searches to be made for good cause grants in each region and constituency within specific timeframes.
We expect to update the database with grant information from January 2018 to March 2020 later this Spring.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timeframe is for the Gambling Commission to alter the conditions attached to lottery operating licences to reflect the revised limits set out in The Gambling Act 2005 (Variation of Monetary Limits) Order 2020 laid on 20 January 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer to question 21948 on 6 March 2020.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the forthcoming ban on the use of credit card transactions for online gambling, what discussions he has had with casino owners on banning credit card cash machine withdrawals on their premises.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings with stakeholders on a range of issues. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the government’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/search/transparency-and-freedom-of-information-releases?content_store_document_type=transparency&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-digital-culture-media-sport
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of any bidder for operating the National Lottery having its headquarters in the north east of England.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Lottery is made up of several organisations working together with specific individual roles. The main organisations that make up the National Lottery are the Government, regulator, private sector operator and 12 Lottery Distributing Bodies.
Many of the the Lottery Distributing Bodies have regional offices. For example, 90% of staff at the National Lottery Community Fund, the largest distributing body, work outside Central London in regional hubs across the country. Over 30% of its staff who work in England are based in the North East.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when the Government plans to respond to the consultation on minimum ages for National Lottery games; and whether he plans to include in that response proposals relating to (a) the People's Postcode Lottery and (b) other national lotteries.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
DCMS held a consultation seeking views on the minimum age for playing National Lottery games only, from July to October 2019. The responses are currently being analysed and I will formally respond in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a £2 maximum stake on fixed odds betting on (a) late-night roulette on television and (b) similar television gambling programmes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government has committed to a review of the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.
All operators providing gambling facilities to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with licence conditions, which include requirements to protect vulnerable people from being harmed by gambling. Operators are required to use the data at their disposal to identify and intervene when a customer shows signs of being at risk of harm.
The Gambling Commission is currently gathering data on online play and what that means for stakes limits, including looking closely at the case for introducing further protections for consumers online as a means of further reducing the risk of harm. Any changes they introduce with regards to online gambling will apply to all forms of remote gambling, including television.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a £2 maximum stake on fixed odds betting games online.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government has committed to a review of the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. Further details will be announced in due course.
All operators providing gambling facilities to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with licence conditions, which include requirements to protect vulnerable people from being harmed by gambling. Operators are required to use the data at their disposal to identify and intervene when a customer shows signs of being at risk of harm.
The Gambling Commission is currently gathering data on online play and what that means for stakes limits, including looking closely at the case for introducing further protections for consumers online as a means of further reducing the risk of harm. Any changes they introduce with regards to online gambling will apply to all forms of remote gambling, including television.