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 (a) the effect of gambling advertising on the rate of gambling disorders in the UK and (b) the potential merits of introducing a ban on gambling advertising on TV.

The government has not seen evidence which demonstrates a causal link between exposure to gambling advertising and the development of problem gambling amongst adults or children.

However, the government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the wide scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the benefits or harms of allowing gambling operators to advertise. We remain committed to an evidence based review.