Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with Ofcom regarding the regulation of gambling content and advertising online for young people, including the interaction of those regulations with the framework set out in the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Gambling is regulated by the Gambling Commission under the Gambling Act 2005. Rules on gambling advertising content are regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority. Gambling advertising is not covered under the Online Safety Act, and as such no discussions with Ofcom have taken place.
The Government recognises that more work needs to be done to ensure that gambling advertising does not exacerbate harm. We engage regularly with stakeholders across government and with industry, to ensure the most vulnerable are protected.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools on gambling-like features in video games, including loot boxes and in-game spending, as part of online safety education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) supports children and young people to manage risk and make informed decisions in relation to their mental wellbeing and online behaviour.
The updated RSHE statutory guidance is clear that children and young people should be taught the risks relating to online gaming, video game monetisation, scams, fraud and other financial harms, and that gaming can become addictive.
Curriculum content also includes the risks related to online gambling and gambling-like content within gaming, including the accumulation of debt.
The departments online safety guidance covers how to teach about all aspects of internet safety and includes content on gaming and gambling, and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-online-safety-in-schools.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver important topics and use their autonomy and local community knowledge to do this.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent steps to tackle problem gambling on online platforms.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, alongside the Gambling Commission, are currently conducting an evaluation of some of the key measures set out in the white paper ‘High Stakes: gambling reform for the digital age’, including online measures. The outcomes of this evaluation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Laura Kyrke-Smith (Labour - Aylesbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Statutory levy and online slot stake limits to be introduced to tackle gambling harm, published on 27 November 2024, what steps she is taking to ensure gambling companies accurately verify gamblers’ ages when enforcing stake limits for online slots.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Online stake limits have been set at £5 per spin for adults aged 25 and over since April of this year, and £2 per spin for 18-24 year olds since May.
All gambling operators offering gambling services to people in Great Britain must have a licence from the Gambling Commission, the independent regulator for gambling in Great Britain. The Gambling Commission requires all operators to complete age and identity verification before a customer can deposit money and gamble. As such, the Gambling Commission is responsible for verifying that operators are applying online slot stake limits correctly.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the harmonisation of gambling duty rates on levels of promotion of more addictive forms of online gaming.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government consultation on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one closed on 21 July 2025. Responses are now being analysed and a response to the consultation will be published at Autumn Budget 2025.
If any changes are made to gambling duties at a future Budget following the consultation, they will be accompanied by a Tax Information and Impact Note which will set out the expected impacts.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason betting companies operating primarily (a) over the phone and (b) by direct debit are included in the proposed single Remote Betting and Gaming Duty.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote gambling into one.
The definition of ‘remote gambling’ in the Gambling Act 2005 means gambling in which persons participate by the use of remote communication.
“In this Act “remote communication” means communication using —
a) the internet,
b) telephone,
c) television,
d) radio, or
e) any other kind of electronic or other technology for facilitating communication”
The consultation asks respondents to share views on whether this definition is appropriate for the proposed Remote Betting and Gaming duty (RBGD). As such, I would encourage interested parties to respond to it.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of enforcement action against unlicensed online gambling operators.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed.
In the past year, the Commission has significantly increased its disruption activity and has a renewed focus on finding innovative ways to tackle the illegal market. Since April 2024, they have issued over 1,150 cease and desist, and disruption notices. In the same period, over 118,000 URLs relating to illegal gambling have been referred to search engines, Google and Bing, with over 81,000 URLs removed by those search engines.
The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve the effectiveness of measures to prevent consumers from accessing unlicensed online gambling operators.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. 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.
In the past year, the Commission has significantly increased its disruption activity and has a renewed focus on finding innovative ways to tackle the illegal market. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will also grant the Gambling Commission with new powers to more quickly and effectively take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the oral contribution by the Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth of 5 February 2025, Official Report, column 373WH, on account-based online play, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that online gambling operators are fully implementing protections for people experiencing harm.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission is in the process of introducing a number of regulatory reforms that build on current account level player protections, including financial vulnerability checks, improved tools for financial limit setting and improved choice in direct marketing.
Regulatory enforcement is the role of the Gambling Commission as set out in the Gambling Act 2005. Gambling operators are required to send the Commission a regulatory return for each type of activity for which they hold a licence. There are a variety of ways that the Commission can deal with non-compliance by licensees, ranging from enhanced compliance procedures and regulatory settlements to licence reviews and formal enforcement action.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to support young men at (a) schools and (b) universities who are gambling online.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to protecting children and young people from gambling harm. In December last year, the Government laid a draft regulation introducing new stake limits for online slots games, including a lower stake limit of £2 for adults aged 18 to 24.
We are introducing a statutory levy to be paid by gambling operators raising funding for research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms. The levy will play an important part in the Government’s wider aim to have a better informed and protected public when it comes to gambling-related harms. The government also continues to support the NHS National Gambling Clinic which provides treatment for adults and children experiencing gambling harm.