UK Inquiry Tracker

Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Apr 2020 Closed: 23 Oct 2020 Parliament page

Gambling can have significant adverse effects on people which can include addiction, mental health problems, financial loss, and in some cases crime or suicide. Excluding the National Lottery, gambling operators earned £11.3bn in 2018-19. All gambling in Britain is regulated by the Gambling Commission with the aim to “ensure gambling … Read more Gambling can have significant adverse effects on people which can include addiction, mental health problems, financial loss, and in some cases crime or suicide. Excluding the National Lottery, gambling operators earned £11.3bn in 2018-19. All gambling in Britain is regulated by the Gambling Commission with the aim to “ensure gambling is fair and safe”. It is funded by licence fees from industry, which amounted to £19 million in the same period. Overall responsibility for the policy and regulatory framework lies the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), which has an objective to ensure gambling is socially responsible. The industry is increasingly complex, with new risks emerging from online and mobile gambling and games that share features with gambling but are not regulated as such. The NAO’s report ‘Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people’ examines how well gambling regulation protects people from gambling-related harms and addresses new risks from social and technological developments. The report finds that there are an estimated 395,000 problem gamblers in Great Britain, with 1.8 million more gamblers at risk who may also be experiencing harm. The report finds that the Gambling Commission is improving its regulation but has more to do including taking a more strategic approach to influencing gambling operators to raise standards. The NAO concludes that even with improvements, the Commission’s ability to protect gamblers faces constraints in the regulatory framework, including inflexible funding and gaps in redress arrangements, and that the Commission is unlikely to be fully effective in addressing risks and harms to consumers within the current arrangements. This will be the first time the Committee has examined gambling regulation in recent years. The Committee will question officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission, on how well the current regulatory framework protects gamblers. The Committee will also ask officials about how current restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could affect those susceptible to the negative impacts of gambling. The Committee is inviting views from any interested parties on the issues raised by the NAO report – please submit your evidence by Wednesday 22 April. Show less

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

9 Oct
2020

Report published

Treasury Minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Seventh to the Thirteenth reports from Session 2019-21

13 Jul
2020

Correspondence

Correspondence from the Gambling Commission on the Committee's report into Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable …

28 Jun
2020

Report published

Seventh Report: Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

20 May
2020

Correspondence

Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

27 Apr
2020

Oral evidence

Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

27 Apr
2020

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Virtual meeting

Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

27 Apr 2020

View on parliament.uk

Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

Neil McArthur · Gambling Commission Sarah Healey · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Seventh Report: Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protec…	HC 134	28 Jun 2020	0	Responded

Correspondence 2 letters

13 Jul 2020 Correspondence from the Gambling Commission on the Committee's report into Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people, dated 6 July 2020

Parliament page

20 May 2020 Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people

Parliament page