Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Marco Longhi and Helen Whately

Thursday 16th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Helen Whately)]

I am slightly surprised by the tone of the hon. Gentleman’s question. The Government have been taking steady steps to increase protections to ensure that people can gamble safely, unlike previous Labour Administrations, who oversaw a huge liberalisation of gambling. As we committed to doing in our manifesto, we will be launching a review of the Gambling Act 2005, and work is going on right now to identify the scope and timeframe of that review.

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con)]

T2. Many people have had their lives ruined by a gambling addiction, so I commend my hon. Friend for her decision to ban people from gambling using credit cards and therefore using money that they often do not have. What other steps are the Government taking to deal with the scourge of problem gambling?

[Helen Whately]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He is absolutely right to raise this again, because there is a huge level of concern about gambling in this country. As he says, we announced this week that we were banning gambling on credit cards, because we know that that is particularly harmful. We are also going to review the Gambling Act to ensure that it is fit for the modern age. Also, in healthcare, there is increasing support for people who are struggling with gambling addiction, including 14 new clinics being opened to provide specialist support.