Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on changing the 80/20 machine rule for Category B and C/D machines in bingo and arcade venues to 50/50.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on outstanding issues on making the rules on machines more consistent in the casino sector.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch a consultation on secondary legislation on cash pay out machines.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to launch the consultation on reviewing the premises licence fees cap for local authorities and aligning the gambling and alcohol licensing systems.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport published its consultation, Measures relating to the land-based gambling sector, on July 26 2023.
The specific measures consulted on included the introduction of an age limit on ‘cash-out’ category D slot-style gaming machines, gaming machine allowances in casinos, the ratio of Category B to Category C/D gaming machines in arcades and bingo halls, and a review of licensing authority fees. The consultation closed on 4 October 2023 and we will publish the government’s response in due course.
The white paper also proposed to introduce cumulative impact assessments to align the gambling and alcohol licensing systems. This measure is not currently being consulted on. However, we plan to introduce it when parliamentary time allows.
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, what regulatory impact assessments have been made of measures taken to deliver the Gambling Act 2005’s fair and open licensing objective since the changes adopted via the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, excluding those changes in respect of the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals stake reduction.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The licensing objectives in the Gambling Act 2005 are principles to be applied by the Gambling Commission and other licensing authorities in exercising their functions under the Act. The Commission is required to permit gambling, in so far as it thinks it reasonably consistent with pursuit of the licensing objectives: a) preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime, b) ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way, and c) protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.
Regulatory Impact Assessments are produced by the government as a tool to assess the impact of government intervention and inform policy decision-making. The Gambling Commission is required under the Enterprise Act 2016 to produce Business Impact Target (BIT) assessments for regulatory measures that it introduces but these relate to the impact on business rather than the licensing objectives. However, as part of its consultation process, the Commission seeks information from stakeholders on the impact and value of its proposals. It also works with a wide range of partners to evaluate the impact of safer gambling measures, in connection with the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harm.
The Commission is currently working to assess the initial impact of the ban on credit cards, including with the Gambling Research Exchange (GREO) on an evaluation of consumer behaviour following the ban. In April 2021, it published a new Corporate Strategy which includes a commitment to developing a framework to evaluate the impact of its work.
Asked by: Lord Chadlington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what evidence they concluded problem gambling rates have remained relatively stable during a period of considerable growth in advertising volumes, as stated in the Government response to the consultation on proposals for changes to Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures, published in May.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The most recent large-scale report was published by the Gambling Commission in 2017, using data from Health Survey for England and Scotland 2015 and Problem Gambling Survey Wales 2015. This estimated the number of adult problem gamblers in Great Britain as approximately 430,000, 0.8% of the population.
The number of gambling adverts on TV rose from 2007, and new types of advertising emerged such as online and on social media. There have been three other published large-scale assessments of rates of problem gambling since then: the British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) 2007, BGPS 2010 and the Health Survey for England and Scotland 2012. Over the course of these surveys there have been slight adjustments to the approach, questions and methodology, and across this period, observed rates of problem gambling have fluctuated slightly but have remained below 1%. Any observed changes are not statistically significant. The response to the Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility set out a package of initiatives to strengthen protections around gambling advertising. It also recognised that there were gaps in the evidence available, and proposed measures to fill these, including significant research commissioned by GambleAware into the impact of gambling advertising on children, young people and those vulnerable to harm. This is due to be completed next year.