Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate the Government has made of the value of front-of-shirt football team sponsorships by cryptocurrency platforms.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am aware of the growth in commercial partnerships between cryptocurrencies and professional sport. On 18 January 2022, the government set out its intention to legislate later this year to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation. The FCA has also publicly consulted on its detailed rules for the regime. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry.
Cryptocurrencies are not within the legal definition of gambling in themselves and therefore are not in scope of the Gambling Act Review.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential risks of sports sponsorship by cryptocurrency platforms.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am aware of the growth in commercial partnerships between cryptocurrencies and professional sport. On 18 January 2022, the government set out its intention to legislate later this year to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation. The FCA has also publicly consulted on its detailed rules for the regime. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry.
Cryptocurrencies are not within the legal definition of gambling in themselves and therefore are not in scope of the Gambling Act Review.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the ongoing Gambling Review White Paper will look into the engagement of fan token cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am aware of the growth in commercial partnerships between cryptocurrencies and professional sport. On 18 January 2022, the government set out its intention to legislate later this year to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation. The FCA has also publicly consulted on its detailed rules for the regime. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry.
Cryptocurrencies are not within the legal definition of gambling in themselves and therefore are not in scope of the Gambling Act Review.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of engagement in fan token cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am aware of the growth in commercial partnerships between cryptocurrencies and professional sport. On 18 January 2022, the government set out its intention to legislate later this year to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation. The FCA has also publicly consulted on its detailed rules for the regime. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry.
Cryptocurrencies are not within the legal definition of gambling in themselves and therefore are not in scope of the Gambling Act Review.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications of footballers advertising non-fungible tokens to fans.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I am aware of the growth in commercial partnerships between cryptocurrencies and professional sport. On 18 January 2022, the government set out its intention to legislate later this year to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation. The FCA has also publicly consulted on its detailed rules for the regime. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry.
Cryptocurrencies are not within the legal definition of gambling in themselves and therefore are not in scope of the Gambling Act Review.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether gambling using cryptocurrency is legal; and whether UK bookmakers are permitted to offer this service.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Cryptoassets are not illegal, but licensed gambling operators are only permitted to accept them as a payment method where they are able to ensure they are compliant with all Gambling Commission licence conditions and requirements, including anti-money laundering and safer gambling measures.
Operators are required to declare any changes to the arrangements through which they accept payment from customers to the Commission. This includes changes to the payment methods (including cryptoassets) or payment processors made available to customers to pay for gambling services. To date, no licensed operators have notified the Gambling Commission that they are accepting digital currencies or cryptoassets directly as payments but several have reported indirectly accepting funds derived from cryptoassets via a third party payment provider. In these cases, funds accepted by the licensee for gambling have been converted to fiat currency (£).