Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will bring forward legislative proposals as part of the Online Harms Bill to tackle online gambling firms making offers to their site users that are harmful, including free loans.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Online Harms Bill will bring in a regulatory framework for user-to-user services, such as social media and video sharing sites, and search services, such as search engines. Gambling firms are already subject to the specific gambling regulatory regime set out in the 2005 Gambling Act. We are currently reviewing that Act with a focus on ensuring we have the right protections in place to prevent gambling related harm.
All online gambling operators must already be licensed by the Commission and comply with the strict licence conditions including measures to protect children and vulnerable people. Importantly, this includes a range of controls to ensure that all advertising and marketing, including offers, are provided in a socially responsible way. A number of types of gambling operators are similarly prohibited from providing any form of credit. Those who are able to are subject to the stringent restrictions set out in the Gambling Commission’s Social Responsibility Codes.
As part of the Act Review’s broad scope, we are looking closely at the effectiveness of the existing measures. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the measures in place to protect (1) young, and (2) vulnerable, people from problem online gambling.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All online gambling operators must be licensed by the Gambling Commission and comply with the strict licence conditions including measures to protect children and vulnerable people. Importantly, this includes tough age verification requirements to ensure children cannot gamble online, and an obligation on operators to monitor data and intervene when customers show signs of a risk of harm.
In addition to this, the Government and the Gambling Commission have significantly strengthened the age verification requirements, banned gambling on credit cards, made online slots safer with a new game design code, mandated integration with Gamstop (the one-stop online self exclusion scheme) and introduced new rules on VIP schemes.
Building on this record, we are reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it is fit for the digital age. As part of its broad scope, the Gambling Act Review is looking at the effectiveness of existing measures to ensure the protection of young and vulnerable people from the risks associated with online gambling. We are considering the evidence carefully and will publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.
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 her planned timetable is for commencing trials of a single customer view for online gambling; and whether she has discussed those trials with gambling operators.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Gambling Commission 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 Information Commissioner’s Office recently published a report confirming it should be possible under data protection law for data to be shared safely and securely between online operators to help prevent gambling related harm. The report does not comment on how any single customer view should work in practice. We expect the industry to prioritise the trial of its planned single customer view solution as a next step and will continue to monitor developments closely.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of support provided by major online gambling companies to tackle problem gambling.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
HM Government recognises the role the industry can play in supporting efforts to tackle problem gambling. Operators are required by the Gambling Commission to monitor play to detect customers who are at risk of harm, to intervene to prevent harm, to provide safer gambling tools and self-exclusion schemes including Gamstop, and to direct them to safer gambling information and support.
We welcome recent steps taken to raise standards across the sector, such as the Betting & Gaming Council’s codes of conduct on high value customer schemes and online product design. Gambling operators licensed by the Gambling Commission are also required to make a contribution to fund research, prevention or treatment of problem gambling. The Government secured a commitment from five major operators to increase their contributions tenfold over 4 years, from 0.1% to 1% of Gross Gambling Yield, raising £100 million for treatment by 2023/24.
The Government is also taking action to tackle problem gambling. Following recent measures such as the ban on credit card gambling and the commitment to increase the number of specialist NHS clinics, we are reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure it is fit for the digital age. We are considering the evidence carefully and aim to publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform by the end of the year.
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 data and research he has on the player base of people playing (a) loot boxes, (b) social casinos, (c) twitch gaming and (d) e-sports betting.
Answered by John Whittingdale
We continue to work with the video games industry, other government departments, and relevant regulatory bodies to ensure games are enjoyed safely. We launched a call for evidence in September to understand players’ experiences with loot boxes and to examine evidence of potential harms. This received over 30,000 responses and we have been working to evaluate fully the evidence gathered. The response will be published in the coming months and will set out preferred actions and potential solutions to any issues identified from the evidence.
The government regularly engages with the Gambling Commission and other bodies to discuss emerging trends, including esports betting. Esports betting is regulated with the same protections as any other sports, and operators must abide by the same regulation and license conditions.
Data from the Gambling Commission’s quarterly surveys shows that in the year to December 2020 9% of adults reported they had ever bet on esports with money or items. Further details can be found at: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/statistics-and-research/publication/taking-a-more-in-depth-look-at-online-gambling#ref-4 The government does not collect statistics on the player base of people opening loot boxes, playing social casino games or accessing twitch gaming streams.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will use the Review of the Gambling Act to ensure that the Gambling Commission can access all essential new and emerging evidence in its ongoing review into Remote Customer Interaction.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Gambling Commission’s consultation and call for evidence on Remote Customer Interaction closed on 9 February and received over 13,000 responses. The Commission is reviewing the evidence carefully and intends to publish a full report in the summer. An interim update can be found at the following link:
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news/article/update-on-remote-customer-interaction-consultation
The government’s Review of the Gambling Act is ongoing and we received 16,000 responses to our call for evidence. We have shared key submissions with the Gambling Commission, including on remote customer interaction.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will introduce a registration and licensing regime for online gambling affiliates.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. This closed on 31 March and received approximately 16,000 submissions from a broad range of interested organisations and individuals, including representatives of gambling affiliates. We are considering all the evidence received carefully and aim to publish a white paper by the end of the year outlining conclusions and next steps.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring online gambling affiliates under the purview of the Gambling Commission.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. This closed on 31 March and received approximately 16,000 submissions from a broad range of interested organisations and individuals, including representatives of gambling affiliates. We are considering all the evidence received carefully and aim to publish a white paper by the end of the year outlining conclusions and next steps.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of adequacy of online gambling protections provided by gambling companies for (a) known frequent gamblers and (b) other online users.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Keeping gambling fair and open and free from crime, and protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited are priorities for the government and key licensing objectives for the Gambling Commission. The Commission requires all operators to monitor gambling activity and to intervene where a customer may be at risk of harm. It has consulted on tightening its rules on customer interaction for online operators and will publish a response and next steps in the summer.
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 broad scope of the Review, we called for evidence on the effectiveness of our regulatory system, including protections for online gamblers and the Gambling Commission's powers and resources. We aim to publish a white paper by the end of the year.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to make teaching on the risks of gambling addiction compulsory in PSHE lessons in secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has made relationships education compulsory for all primary schools, relationships and sex education compulsory for all secondary school pupils and health education compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools. Health education includes teaching pupils about the risks associated with gambling. The statutory guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
These subjects will make sure that children and young people are taught about the risks associated with gambling and are able to make informed decisions about their own actions. These subjects will also support pupils to understand the importance of their mental wellbeing and promote safe online behaviour. For example, under the topic of internet safety and harms, the guidance sets out that young people should be taught about the risks related to online gambling, including the accumulation of debt, how advertising and information is targeted at them and how to be a discerning consumer of information online.
To support schools to deliver this content, the Department has produced teacher training modules. This includes teaching pupils about the risks associated with gambling as part of health education. A link to the training modules is available on GOV.UK and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health#primary-teacher-training-modules.