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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many times payment providers (a) were asked by the Gambling Commission to block payments to online gambling websites not licenced in the UK and (b) blocked such payments between the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 coming into force and 31 December 2016.

Between 1 November 2014 and 31 December 2016, there have been 13 occasions where the Gambling Commission has asked payment providers to prevent payments to online gambling website operators not licensed in the Great Britain but believed to be transacting with consumers in Great Britain.

On 12 of those occasions the payment provider either terminated their relationship with the unlicensed operator or took steps to ensure that the unlicensed gambling website was no longer available to consumers in Great Britain. In the other case, enforcement activity is currently ongoing.