Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
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.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 Gambling white paper, published on 27 April 2023. whether she plans to take steps to help reduce the impact of the white paper's proposals on (a) casual gamblers and (b) the growth of illegal gambling.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - 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. The white paper, published in April this year, outlines a balanced and proportionate package of measures.
The white paper’s proposals are targeted to protect those most at risk of gambling addiction or suffering catastrophic losses, while having minimal impact on the freedoms of the large majority of gamblers. For example, financial risk checks will be frictionless checks and based on data sharing, and only apply to only the very highest spenders. Proposed changes to game design rules will only impact the most intense products and not how most people ordinarily play, and the proposed data sharing between operators is only for those showing strong indicators of harm. “Casual gamblers” will also benefit from a number of the reforms, such as the new ombudsman to provide redress when things go wrong, greater control over the gambling marketing they receive, and reforms to support the land-based sector. Where proposals have been subject to consultation, we and the Gambling Commission are considering all responses carefully, including from gamblers not suffering harm.
We are also taking strong action to tackle illegal gambling alongside our reforms to the licensed sector. The Gambling Commission has been engaging with internet search and service providers to delist illegal operators and restrict access, working with payment providers and financial institutions to cut illegal operators off from payments, and working with software providers to prevent access to popular products and games. Furthermore, as we committed in the white paper, we are legislating through the recently introduced Criminal Justice Bill to give the Gambling Commission tough new powers to tackle criminal gambling websites.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what systems the Gambling Commission has in place to (a) monitor, (b) close down and (c) take other action against illegal gambling sites.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the response to WPQ 2835, the best available estimates suggest the black market accounts for less than 2.5% of bets in this country. The Gambling Commission takes a risk-based approach to the illegal provision of gambling facilities. The 2021 fees uplift increased investment in how the Commission monitors and tackles the black market. It operates on a system of escalating interventions where it identifies unlicensed operators interacting with British customers, from initial cease and desist letters up to more robust disruption. This includes working with internet search and service providers to delist illegal operators and restrict access, working with payment providers and financial institutions to cut illegal operators off from payments, and working with software providers to prevent access to popular products and games.
As we committed to in the white paper, we are also legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to give stronger powers to the Gambling Commission to take down criminal gambling websites, and plan to reform the Commission's fee structure to give it greater flexibility to respond to emerging risks, such as black market gambling.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
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.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Barran on 9 January (HL4502 and HL4503), what current research informs their statutory curriculum for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) with regard to gambling education.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The current statutory guidance for relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) was informed by a stakeholder engagement process in 2017, including a public call for evidence that received over 23,000 responses from parents, young people, schools and experts.
The department has worked closely with subject experts Parent Zone and Childnet to develop the Internet Safety and Harms training module, which includes content on gambling and was published in September 2020, alongside modules on all aspects of the RSHE curriculum.
The department is also working closely with Gambling with Lives and the Department of Health and Social Care to review the ongoing evidence around gambling to help inform future policy. The research currently being undertaken for the department by IFF Research will test whether schools are teaching RSHE effectively, including about the risks of gambling, and will provide emerging findings to inform decisions regarding the department’s review of the RSHE statutory guidance which is anticipated to start this year.