Gambling Advertising

Lord Bassam of Brighton Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

My Lords, I join others in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Foster, on securing this debate. It seems that it has been shifted around nearly as frequently as the publication date for the Government’s own White Paper on gambling regulation.

Yesterday, in a response to an Oral Question from my noble friend Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, the Minister seemed keen to hide behind the ongoing review, arguing that he could not “pre-empt” its findings and stressing that we must wait for the White Paper “in due course”. “In due course” seems to have stretched a very long time. That review was launched in December 2020, with the call for evidence closing at the end of March 2021. While we appreciate that the Government have other things on their hands and that they will have received a significant number of responses, accompanied by a raft of data, we are now in March 2022 and are none the wiser about the department’s intentions.

Each and every day, people are exposed to numerous adverts for lotteries, online casinos and sports betting. Much of this is during the broadcast of sporting events, as many noble Lords said, but a significant proportion is general advertising across TV, radio and print. We are all familiar with the proliferation of sponsorship deals with gambling firms in sports such as football, and it remains the case that more than 85% of people report seeing gambling adverts, but other stats should give cause for alarm.

Late last year, market analysis by Nielsen suggested that in a 12-month period, around 1,200 hours of gambling ads, or 100 hours per month, had been aired on radio stations during school-run hours—that is, 8 to 9 am and 3 to 4 pm. Why is it acceptable for children to be exposed to this in this day and age? After being contacted by the Guardian, the owner of Gala Casino reportedly instructed its media buyers to avoid bookings during school-run times. Why has this been left to gambling firms themselves? Could not Her Majesty’s Government have acted before the gambling firms seemed so concerned to act themselves? Of course, the Government need to establish the exact extent to which gambling advertising causes actual harm, but firms would not spend the sums they do—both on placing ads and securing celebrity endorsements—if they were not securing a sizeable return on that outlay.

Voluntary schemes to promote responsible gambling messages may have some impact, but we are still seeing too many people become problem gamblers and ad spending far outweighs funds given to support those who have an unhealthy relationship with gambling. We hope that the forthcoming White Paper will land on our desks sooner rather than later and that it will offer genuine solutions to these problems rather than tinkering at the edges.

Finally, can the Minister say whether the online harms Bill is a potential avenue for picking up some of these issues? We are in need of urgent regulation, and it has been left far too long.