Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will hold discussions with gambling license holders to encourage those licensees to increase annual contributions for the research, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction.

It is a requirement on all gambling licence holders to make an annual financial contribution to one or more organisations that perform research, education and treatment (RET) for gambling-related harm. The vast majority choose to make that contribution to the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) which raised £6.5million in 2015.

The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB), was set up to by the Gambling Commission to advise on priorities for research, education and training relating to responsible gambling. The RGSB is now working with the RGT to estimate the costs of the relevant activities that have been identified in the recently published National Responsible Gambling Strategy, 2016-19. This process will determine what RGT should expect to raise from all those businesses who profit from commercial gambling in Britain.