Gambling Levy Regulations 2025

Debate between Lord Bishop of St Albans and Lord Watts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Grand Committee

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

I agree that there is a lot of information out there, but I would like to see it scrutinised more professionally. Part of the problem we heard in the committee was that access to data made it difficult for the academic studies that were carried out to find the evidence needed. I hope that the instrument will allow academics to look at issues with gambling and the prevention of gambling addiction, and that it will be an effective measure to help people to avoid this trap.

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of Peers for Gambling Reform. I congratulate the Minister on today’s announcement, which is very welcome as this is a major health issue. It is worth reminding your Lordships, a number of whom were on the Select Committee, of the shocking statistics and why we are having this debate. More than 60,000 teenagers and a third of a million adults are formally diagnosed with some sort of gambling addiction. It affects the lives of around 2 million adults. It is a debateable figure, but possibly more than 400 people take their lives over this serious issue every year, so I congratulate the Government on taking this seriously.

I will not say too much, because my colleagues will speak on this more, but I wonder if we could be told the rationale behind the £5 maximum stake. My understanding of the research is that it needs to be much lower, so it would be very helpful to understand how His Majesty’s Government got to that figure.

The introduction of this levy is hugely helpful. For many years, operators made extensive profits—we have used that phrase in the House time and again—by privatising the profits and nationalising the costs. There are 14 gambling clinics paid for by us, via the NHS, with our taxes. The polluter clearly needs to pay for this pollution. Those gambling operators have hardly contributed even 0.1% of their GGY to support the treatment of gambling harms, so the regulations are good news. They send a signal about the seriousness with which His Majesty’s Government are taking this.

Just last week, a High Court ruling found that Sky Betting & Gaming unlawfully bombarded a problem gambler with more than 1,300 marketing emails over a two-year period, because he was identified as a high-value customer. Sadly, these sorts of people then hugely suffer.

My other concern is that, with the level of harm that is going on, we need to review the amounts for treatment before waiting for five years—which is how I understand it. I urge the Government to consider annual funding reviews, so that we can ensure that money gets to treatment quickly to support all those who are suffering.