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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of levels of online problem gambling.

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 case for greater controls on the design of online gambling products, including pre-release testing.

We welcome steps taken by technology companies to support people who are experiencing problem gambling. This includes Google’s recently announced plans to allow its users to opt out of gambling advertising.

According to the 2016 Combined Health Survey, the rate of problem gambling among those who had gambled online during the past year was 3.5%. The 2018 Health Survey for England found a problem gambling rate of 4.2% among past-year online gamblers.