Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to de-criminalise the non-payment of television licence fees.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In February 2020, HM Government launched a public consultation on decriminalising TV licence evasion. The responses highlighted the considerable stress and anxiety the criminal sanction can cause for people, including the most vulnerable in society. HM Government remains concerned that a criminal sanction for TV licence evasion is increasingly disproportionate and unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system.
We will be looking at ways to ensure the BBC’s funding model is sustainable in the long-term, which will include asking whether a mandatory licence fee with criminal penalties for individual households is still appropriate.
HM Government has also taken steps to support licence fee payers, introducing the Simple Payment Plan in April 2020, a flexible payment instalment scheme which allows customers to pay in fortnightly or monthly instalments throughout the year. This is available to certain customers who currently struggle to pay the TV licence fee. More information on the Simple Payment Plan and its eligibility criteria can be found on tvlicensing.co.uk.
The BBC has recently published the findings of its Gender Disparity Review into TV Licence Fee evasion and set out a ten-point plan of action. It is important that the BBC make progress on that plan.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unregulated gambling operators were (1) discovered, and (2) stopped, in (a) 2019, and (b) 2020.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2019/20 the Gambling Commission took enforcement action in 59 cases involving unlicensed online operators. It has taken enforcement action in 74 cases so far in 2020/21. The Commission’s action includes coordinating with regulators in other jurisdictions, working with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators and working with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches.
The Commission have not received any reports of the dark web being used by GB customers for illegal gambling, but the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 will consider the risks posed by emerging technologies and a number of issues around unlicensed gambling operators, including the current scale of the issue and whether the Gambling Commission has the powers it needs to tackle it effectively. The government is also consulting on an uplift to industry licence fees, which will provide the Commission with greater capacity in the short to medium term to investigate and tackle the threat caused by unlicensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent gambling operators from using the 'dark' web for illegal activities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2019/20 the Gambling Commission took enforcement action in 59 cases involving unlicensed online operators. It has taken enforcement action in 74 cases so far in 2020/21. The Commission’s action includes coordinating with regulators in other jurisdictions, working with payment providers to prevent payments to unlicensed operators and working with web hosting companies and search engines to remove sites or prevent them appearing on searches.
The Commission have not received any reports of the dark web being used by GB customers for illegal gambling, but the Review of the Gambling Act 2005 will consider the risks posed by emerging technologies and a number of issues around unlicensed gambling operators, including the current scale of the issue and whether the Gambling Commission has the powers it needs to tackle it effectively. The government is also consulting on an uplift to industry licence fees, which will provide the Commission with greater capacity in the short to medium term to investigate and tackle the threat caused by unlicensed operators.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the introduction of rules by the Betting and Gaming Council aimed at preventing football clubs using social media to promote gambling, what plans they have to ensure other forms of potentially harmful advertising are addressed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
My department has been considering how online advertising is regulated through its Online Advertising Programme, and will be consulting on this issue later this year. Our aim is to foster fair, accountable and ethical online advertising that works for citizens, businesses and society as a whole. In particular, we want to ensure standards about the placement and content of advertising can be effectively applied and enforced online so that consumers have limited exposure to harmful or misleading advertising.
The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8th December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. As part of the broad scope of that Review, we have called for evidence on the benefits or harms of allowing gambling operators to advertise. The Call for Evidence will remain open until 31 March, and no policy decisions have yet been made. The government intends to set out conclusions, including any proposals for change, in a white paper later this year.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many mobile phone gambling apps were registered in the UK in each year between 2010 and 2018.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The Gambling Commission does not track the year to year growth in this area.
There are currently 1,375 active websites and apps on the Gambling Commission’s public register. The Gambling Commission’s data does not differentiate between websites and mobile phone apps and the full register can be found at: https://secure.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PublicRegister/Search?Search=&Sector=Remote
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many online gambling businesses were registered in total in the UK in each year between 2010 and 2018; and of those, how many were newly registered in each of those years.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Gambling operators can hold a number of licences to allow for multiple forms of activity, including software development and offering gambling services directly to consumers. The number of licences can change as operators add, merge or surrender licences.
The number of unique licensees that held a licence for at least one activity that relates to the provision of 'online' gambling services, whether Business to Business or Business to Consumer, permits operating a gambling website were as follows:
March 2015 - 281
March 2016 - 286
March 2017 - 291
March 2018 - 317
The number of new operators that obtained a licence that permits an 'online' presence in each calendar year was:
2015 - 63
2016 - 47
2017 - 52
2018 - 36
These numbers include some Business to Business licensees who have selected not to offer Business to Consumer services.
Data for the period prior to the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, which moved the regulation of online gambling in the UK to a point of consumption basis, is limited.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of gambling affiliates which operate in the UK.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Consumer complaints about gambling advertising are generally directed to and dealt with by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) or Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), rather than central government.
The ASA received 10,165 complaints about gambling advertising between 2010 and 2018:
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Total | 1655 | 394 | 1168 | 1138 | 1090 | 987 | 1615 | 933 | 1185 |
Data provided by the ICO shows there were 10,270 complaints between 2014, when gambling was introduced as a complaint category, and 2018. The Gambling Commission is not the lead regulatory authority, but its contact centre does deal with some consumer complaints. It received 1,104 complaints about gambling advertising and marketing between 2014, when advertising became part of its remit, and 2018.
Neither government nor the Gambling Commision holds data on the number of marketing affiliates operating in the UK. Gambling operators providing services to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Commission and are responsible for the actions of third parties, including marketing affiliates. If an affiliate breaches licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP) the operator will be held accountable.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many complaints they have received regarding gambling advertising in each year between 2010 and 2018.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Consumer complaints about gambling advertising are generally directed to and dealt with by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) or Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), rather than central government.
The ASA received 10,165 complaints about gambling advertising between 2010 and 2018:
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Total | 1655 | 394 | 1168 | 1138 | 1090 | 987 | 1615 | 933 | 1185 |
Data provided by the ICO shows there were 10,270 complaints between 2014, when gambling was introduced as a complaint category, and 2018. The Gambling Commission is not the lead regulatory authority, but its contact centre does deal with some consumer complaints. It received 1,104 complaints about gambling advertising and marketing between 2014, when advertising became part of its remit, and 2018.
Neither government nor the Gambling Commision holds data on the number of marketing affiliates operating in the UK. Gambling operators providing services to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Commission and are responsible for the actions of third parties, including marketing affiliates. If an affiliate breaches licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP) the operator will be held accountable.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fines have been issued to companies for contravening the Gambling Act 2005 in each year between 2010 and 2018.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Where an operator fails to meet its requirements under the Licensing Conditions and Codes of Practice, the Gambling Commission can take regulatory action. Whilst the vast majority of issues are resolved without the use of formal powers, the Gambling Commission may, in the event of a serious breach, impose financial penalties or revoke an operator’s licence. Within the regulatory process, the Commission may also agree a regulatory settlement, whereby an operator agrees to makes a donation to a socially responsible cause.
The table below shows the number of fines and regulatory settlements issued between 2010 and 2018. Together, these came to over £40 million. These figures do not include other fines which may have been issued by the courts as a result of prosecutions brought by other enforcement agencies.
| Fines imposed under s121 of the Gambling Act | Regulatory settlements |
2010 | 2 | Unknown |
2011 | 0 | Unknown |
2012 | 2 | Unknown |
2013 | 1 | 3 |
2014 | 1 | 3 |
2015 | 1 | 2 |
2016 | 1 | 3 |
2017 | 1 | 6 |
2018 | 3 | 9 |
Total | 12 | 26 |
Asked by: Lord Smith of Hindhead (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many complaints the Gambling Commission received in 2016 related to gambling affiliate activity.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Complaints made directly to the Commission are dealt with by its central contact centre and to collate information on the number relating to affiliates would involve reviewing each complaint individually at disproportionate cost. The Commission is not the lead regulatory authority for advertising or SMS messaging and consumer complaints are directed to the Advertising Standards Authority or Information Commissioner’s Office in the first instance.
Gambling operators providing services to customers in Great Britain must be licensed by the Commission and are responsible for the actions of affiliates on their behalf. If an affiliate breaches licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP) the operator will be held accountable.