Found: Gambling participation and problem gambling [Internet]. 2019.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of people seeking help for online gambling in each of the last five years.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The department does not gather statistics on the number of people seeking help for gambling-related harms generally or online gambling in particular. However, the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN) provides support and treatment for the majority of people presenting for help for gambling-related harms, and their annual statistics (for 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23) can provide insight on those seeking help for online gambling in each of the last five years.

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent steps have been taken to (1) raise awareness of the risks, and (2) promote responsible practices, in relation to online gambling, particularly among vulnerable groups such as young people and individuals with mental health challenges.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

His Majesty’s Government recognises that, while millions of people gamble online without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences. It is particularly important to take steps to protect vulnerable groups, including young people, from risks associated with online gambling.

In April the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a White Paper following our review of the Gambling Act 2005. The White Paper outlined a series of measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and to ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected. These include new, frictionless financial risk checks, a stake limit for online slots games, improvements to customer-led tools, and tougher restrictions on bonuses and direct marketing. These measures will be complemented by strengthened informational messaging about the risks associated with gambling. The White Paper also contained a commitment to introduce a new statutory levy paid by operators to fund research, prevention, and treatment. In July the Gambling Commission also published a vulnerability statement, outlining its approach to identifying, supporting, and protecting consumers who are in vulnerable situations.

We are working with the Gambling Commission and others to bring the measures from the White Paper into force as quickly as possible, and have already published consultations on a number of important proposals so that we can finalise details ahead of their implementation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to introduce age verification checks for online streams of gambling content.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people from online harms and is aware of issues around online streaming of gambling content. We welcome the measures which some streaming platforms have taken to ban the streaming of gambling content where it may reach underage audiences.

Many online streamers of gambling content have affiliations with the gambling sites on which they play to target consumers in Great Britain and encourage them to gamble. This brings them under the current regulatory umbrella for gambling advertising. Where streams amount to advertising then they are subject to the robust rules that are in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This ensures licensees are held to account for the activities of their marketing affiliates.

Further, there are robust age verification requirements in place to prevent children from creating online gambling accounts or accessing facilities to gamble themselves, even where they have seen streams. As outlined in the white paper, the measures introduced in 2019 have been effective in preventing children from being able to gamble online with either their own or invented identities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of online illegal gambling sites accessible from the UK.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

There are inherent difficulties in accurately estimating the scale of the unlicensed gambling market in this country. We are not aware of any robust estimates for precisely how many unlicensed sites are accessible from the UK, and this is further complicated by the high churn in black market operations.

However, the Government is aware of a number of studies including from the industry which suggests that the black market accounts for less than 2.5% of bets. Data from the Gambling Commission also suggests that the scale of the black market has remained low and stable, with little variation in the number of complaints it has received about illegal gambling websites.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the White Paper entitled High stakes: gambling reform for a digital age, what her planned timescale is for publishing a consultation on a stake limit for online slots.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We will publish a consultation this summer on the level at which the maximum stake limit for online slot games should be set, and on other details necessary for secondary legislation.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent access to unregulated online gambling services.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Gambling Commission can deploy a range of business disruption techniques to prevent consumers accessing the unregulated online gambling market. It works with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches, and with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators. It also has powers to prosecute or to refer issues to partner agencies such as HMRC where necessary.

The Gambling Act Review is looking at the Gambling Commission's powers and resources as part of its broad scope, including issues around unlicensed gambling. We will publish a white paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming weeks.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help protect people who exclude themselves from gambling platforms.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As a condition of their Gambling Commission licences, all operators must offer self-exclusion procedures for customers, with multi-operator self-exclusion schemes in place for both online gambling (where all operators must be integrated with the GAMSTOP scheme) and land-based sectors.

As part of the self-exclusion process, licensees must take all reasonable steps to prevent marketing materials being sent to any self-excluded individual, including removing their details from any marketing database within two days of receiving notice of self-exclusion. If a customer has registered with GAMSTOP, all operators are expected to remove them from marketing lists. Operators who fail to comply with self-exclusion requirements are subject to enforcement action from the Gambling Commission.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made on the potential role of open banking technology in helping to tackle problem online gambling.

Answered by Paul Scully

The government is exploring how technology and data can be harnessed in a number of areas to better prevent harmful gambling online. We are reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 and will publish our white paper in the coming weeks.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether (a) the Gambling Commission and (b) her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of technology such as open banking to remove the need for customers to hand over financial information for affordability checks to multiple online gambling operators.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government and Gambling Commission are exploring how technology and data can be harnessed in a number of areas to better prevent harmful gambling online. We recognise the role that data sharing could play in supporting interventions across multiple operators, as well as the benefits of considering a player’s financial circumstances as part of a rounded assessment of whether they are at risk of harm. The government’s white paper on the Gambling Act Review will be published in the coming weeks.

It is important that any data-driven protections are proportionate, handle data securely, and are implemented in a way that is acceptable to consumers. Officials from the Department and the Commission have therefore met a range of technology providers to understand potential delivery options, including those which may cause less friction in the customer journey such as checks facilitated by open banking.

The Single Customer View project is currently in a pilot stage with GAMSTOP, which operates the national online self-exclusion scheme, as technical provider. This is taking place within the Information Commissioner’s Office regulatory sandbox, and progress will be closely monitored by Government and regulators. There will be ongoing evaluations once data sharing has started. The Gambling Commission’s most recent update surrounding progress and next steps can be found here, and the Information Commissioner’s update on the sandbox can be found here.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to introduce online gambling affordability assessments as part of the gambling white paper, to be conducted independently of the industry.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government and Gambling Commission are exploring how technology and data can be harnessed in a number of areas to better prevent harmful gambling online. We recognise the role that data sharing could play in supporting interventions across multiple operators, as well as the benefits of considering a player’s financial circumstances as part of a rounded assessment of whether they are at risk of harm. The government’s white paper on the Gambling Act Review will be published in the coming weeks.

It is important that any data-driven protections are proportionate, handle data securely, and are implemented in a way that is acceptable to consumers. Officials from the Department and the Commission have therefore met a range of technology providers to understand potential delivery options, including those which may cause less friction in the customer journey such as checks facilitated by open banking.

The Single Customer View project is currently in a pilot stage with GAMSTOP, which operates the national online self-exclusion scheme, as technical provider. This is taking place within the Information Commissioner’s Office regulatory sandbox, and progress will be closely monitored by Government and regulators. There will be ongoing evaluations once data sharing has started. The Gambling Commission’s most recent update surrounding progress and next steps can be found here, and the Information Commissioner’s update on the sandbox can be found here.

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in conjunction with the Gambling Commission to prevent unlicensed online gambling.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it remains fit for the digital age. As part of its broad scope, the review called for evidence on the size of the black market for gambling in Great Britain and the ease with which consumers could access illegal gambling websites. The report by PwC on unlicensed gambling will be considered as part of the review.

The Gambling Commission assesses information gathered from multiple sources and works closely with partner agencies to prevent access to illegal websites by consumers in Great Britain. If the Commission decides to take action against an illegal operator, it will initially issue a Cease and Desist letter. If this action does not prove successful, it will use disruption techniques, which includes using its relationships with web-hosting companies to suspend or IP-block consumers in Great Britain from accessing websites, contacting payment providers to remove payment services, and liaising with social media sites to prevent websites appearing on search engines or being hosted. The Commission will also use some of the additional income that it is receiving from its recent fees uplift to increase its ability to tackle illegal gambling.

The Commission is aware that some illegal websites are targeted at people who experience significant harms from their gambling and self-excluded gamblers. The Commission is particularly focused on identifying and disrupting these illegal operators.

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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusions of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report Review of unlicensed online gambling in the UK, published on 3 February 2021; in particular, the conclusion that unlicensed gambling has grown to a turnover of £1.4 billion with 460,000 users.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it remains fit for the digital age. As part of its broad scope, the review called for evidence on the size of the black market for gambling in Great Britain and the ease with which consumers could access illegal gambling websites. The report by PwC on unlicensed gambling will be considered as part of the review.

The Gambling Commission assesses information gathered from multiple sources and works closely with partner agencies to prevent access to illegal websites by consumers in Great Britain. If the Commission decides to take action against an illegal operator, it will initially issue a Cease and Desist letter. If this action does not prove successful, it will use disruption techniques, which includes using its relationships with web-hosting companies to suspend or IP-block consumers in Great Britain from accessing websites, contacting payment providers to remove payment services, and liaising with social media sites to prevent websites appearing on search engines or being hosted. The Commission will also use some of the additional income that it is receiving from its recent fees uplift to increase its ability to tackle illegal gambling.

The Commission is aware that some illegal websites are targeted at people who experience significant harms from their gambling and self-excluded gamblers. The Commission is particularly focused on identifying and disrupting these illegal operators.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the loss of (1) tax revenue, and (2) Horse Racing Levy income, due to illegal online gambling.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

(1) The information requested is not available: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not make an estimate of the amount of revenue lost through illegal online gambling.

HMRC estimates the tax gap[1], the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. For the tax year 2019 to 2020, the other excise duties tax gap, which includes betting and gaming, cider and perry, spirits-based ready-to-drink beverages and wine duties was £610 million.

(2) The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB)[2] is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; and is required to collect a statutory levy, the Horserace Betting Levy. The information requested is not available from HMRC.

[1] Tax gap statistics are available at: Measuring tax gaps - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

[2] Horserace Betting Levy Board has a separate website: https://www.hblb.org.uk/

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how the proposed Single Customer View (CSV) to monitor customer activity of those who use internet betting platforms will be regulated to ensure that gamblers who make a profit are not unjustly registered as problem gamblers; and whether she has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on additional costs that may be caused by SCV to the levy and racing industry.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Gambling Commission has made clear from the outset that the single customer view is only intended to facilitate data sharing for safer gambling purposes. It has worked closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office to understand how a single customer view can be delivered in compliance with all relevant data protection requirements. The project is currently entering a pilot stage with GAMSTOP, which operates the national online self-exclusion scheme, as technical provider.

The Government and the Commission will monitor the progress of the trials closely, and further information will be published in due course. The Gambling Commission’s most recent update surrounding progress and next steps can be found here.

We are considering impact at the appropriate stages for all policies in our Gambling White Paper which we will publish in the coming weeks.