Armed Forces: Gambling Disorders

Debate between Baroness Goldie and Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville

Monday 13th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD)]

My Lords, while we would certainly not want to curtail the recreational activities of our military personnel, gambling is extremely addictive. What conversations have the MoD had with its American counterparts about the effectiveness of the US military gambling screening and research programme, as required by the 2019 US National Defense Authorization Act?

[Baroness Goldie (Con)]

We in the MoD believe that we are already taking many of the measures that the United States has enacted and deployed. We are doing that in a variety of ways, as I have said. Part of it is done within the services themselves, but an important point was raised about servicepeople’s confidence in speaking through the chain of command: there might be an inhibition about doing that. They can then access the independent expertise of the Royal British Legion. We have a wide range of support measures to assist where a problem pattern of gambling emerges.