Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the level of addictive gambling of placing restrictions on the amount people can spend on online gambling games.

We are committed to ensuring that those who gamble are protected from gambling-related harm, whether they gamble online or in land-based premises. The Government’s consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility included measures to strengthen protections for online gambling. We will publish our response to the consultation in due course.

All online operators must supply tools to help players control their gambling, including the option to set financial limits. The Gambling Commission’s 2017 Report on Gambling Participation found that financial limits were the most commonly used gambling management tool. The report also found that, in terms of the information provided by gambling companies, tools to help players control gambling had the biggest impact on stopping or reducing the amount people spent on gambling.

In March 2018 the Gambling Commission announced plans to consult on customer due-diligence proposals which would require operators to set limits on players’ spending that could only be increased once they had further verified information about the player, for example through an affordability check.