Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and regulate the use of personalised algorithms and targeted advertising by online gambling platforms.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All gambling operators in the UK must comply with robust advertising codes, which are enforced by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) independently of Government. These codes apply across all advertising platforms, including online and social media. The codes are regularly reviewed and updated and DCMS regularly engages with the ASA to discuss these changes and the impact of the regulations.
All operators in the UK are also required to comply with the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, which includes new provisions relating to direct marketing and socially responsible promotions. The impact of these measures will be assessed in due course.
We engage with a range of stakeholders and other regulators, such as the ICO, to understand whether more can be done to further raise standards in this area, particularly on online platforms.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 21 May (HL7312), when the Betting and Gaming Council will publish its report on advertising.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has provided the Government with their report on gambling advertising. It is for the BGC to decide whether to publish it. We have reviewed the report and are considering this alongside a range of other evidence to determine next steps in this area.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce mandatory transparency requirements on gambling advertising spend and targeting strategies by licensed operators.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We currently have no plans to introduce mandatory transparency requirements on gambling advertising spend and targeting strategies by licensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Gambling Levy Programme Board and the Gambling Levy Advisory Group were established, and whether they will publish the membership of both of those bodies.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Gambling Levy Programme Board first met in June 2025. The Board is chaired by the DCMS Director of Sport and Gambling, and its membership consists of government officials from relevant HMG departments, and the Scottish and Welsh governments.
The Advisory Group first met in May 2025. It is chaired by a DCMS official and membership consists of working level representation from UK Research and Innovation, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, NHS England, the appropriate bodies in Scotland and Wales and the Gambling Commission.
We will continue to regularly monitor the levy’s governance arrangements to ensure that there is effective oversight of delivery against objectives. We will publish the Terms of Reference and details of membership for the Levy Board and Advisory Group in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish a report of the findings of the research carried out by Public Group International under a contract that ended on 31 March (procurement reference 104167) into the effectiveness of industry self-regulation of loot boxes.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Yes. We are finalising the research findings and will publish a report in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Advertising Standards Authority and the Gambling Commission about Premier League football clubs that are sponsored by unlicensed gambling businesses.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Minister for Gambling and Heritage met with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in December 2024. However, sponsorship of this kind is not within the remit of the ASA, whose CAP Code includes a specific exclusion for ‘sponsorship’.
However, we regularly engage with the Gambling Commission on this issue. The Commission has been clear that sports organisations must diligently and continuously ensure that they are not advertising illegal gambling. Under current rules, sports organisations who engage in sponsoring and advertising arrangements with unlicensed gambling operators are at serious risk of committing the offence of advertising unlawful gambling under Section 330 of the Gambling Act 2005. The Commission has warned relevant club officials that they may be liable to prosecution and, if convicted, face a fine, imprisonment or both if they promote unlicensed gambling businesses that transact with consumers in Great Britain. The Commission is taking active steps to monitor online gambling activity for these unlicensed brands and to ensure they are blocked and inaccessible to consumers in Great Britain, and will take steps as necessary.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve adherence by gambling operators to self-exclusion schemes.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Self-exclusion is an important tool to support customers at risk of gambling harms. As set out in the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, all remote and non-remote operators must have self-exclusion arrangements in place and participate in a multi-operator self-exclusion scheme. Compliance is a condition of licences and any breach may lead the Gambling Commission to review an operator’s licence.
Compliance with self-exclusion schemes, such as GAMSTOP, is very high amongst remote gambling operators. In addition, a new, voluntary exclusion scheme, GamProtect, was launched by four of the largest operators last year and is being rolled out across the remote industry. This tool provides a single customer view of the most vulnerable customers across participating operators, ensuring they can be quickly and effectively excluded from harmful gambling without self referral.
We are aware that there are concerns about adherence to self-exclusion requirements in the adult gaming centre sector. We are seeking further assurance on how the sector is addressing these concerns. We will continue to work with our stakeholders, including the Gambling Commission and the gambling sector, to strengthen player protections.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the number of gambling venues operating with bingo licences but effectively operating as adult gaming centres.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We recognise that, as noted in the Gambling Commission’s 2023 advice to the Gambling Act Review, there are gambling premises which are licensed solely as bingo venues, where gaming machines take up most of the floor space and which can give the appearance to consumers of being adult gaming centres.
As set out in the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, in licensed bingo premises, gaming machines may only be made available for use where there are also substantive facilities for non-remote bingo available in the premises. Non-remote bingo licensees must also ensure that the function and presentation of their premises are such that a customer can reasonably be expected to recognise that it is a premises licensed for the purposes of providing bingo facilities. These are conditions of non-remote bingo licences. We are reviewing the current licensing regime for bingo venues, and we intend to consult on changes in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 21 May (HL7312), what sources of evidence they are consulting to gain a comprehensive and impartial understanding of the impacts of gambling advertising.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to consulting the best available evidence on the impact of advertising from a wide range of sources when assessing best next steps in this space. Additionally, developing quality evidence is a key priority for the statutory levy, and up to 20% of funding will be directed towards high-quality, independent research to fill gaps in the evidence base, including on the impacts of gambling advertising. We will continue to monitor developments in the evidence and take action where appropriate.
The Government currently has no plans to conduct an independent review on the impacts of gambling advertising. As part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Review of the Gambling Act 2005, an extensive call for evidence was conducted which included a range of questions on evidence on gambling advertising and its impacts.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 21 May (HL7312), what recent assessment they have made of the merits of conducting an independent review of the impacts of gambling advertising.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to consulting the best available evidence on the impact of advertising from a wide range of sources when assessing best next steps in this space. Additionally, developing quality evidence is a key priority for the statutory levy, and up to 20% of funding will be directed towards high-quality, independent research to fill gaps in the evidence base, including on the impacts of gambling advertising. We will continue to monitor developments in the evidence and take action where appropriate.
The Government currently has no plans to conduct an independent review on the impacts of gambling advertising. As part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Review of the Gambling Act 2005, an extensive call for evidence was conducted which included a range of questions on evidence on gambling advertising and its impacts.