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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a 9pm watershed for all gambling advertising.

We considered advertising as part of our Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility. The response was published on 17 May. Protecting vulnerable people was central to the review, and we recognised that having the right advertising protections in place was an important part of this.

As set out in the consultation document, children’s exposure to gambling adverts on TV has been declining year on year since 2013. The Gambling Commission’s Young People Survey in 2017 found that there was little evidence of a direct influence on gambling activity, with only 1% of young people in the survey saying advertising prompted them to start gambling or increase the amount they gamble. However, our response recognises that there are gaps in the evidence available, and outlined measures to fill these, including significant research commissioned by GambleAware into the impact of gambling advertising on children, young people and those vulnerable to harm.

There are already strong controls in place around gambling advertising, which must not be targeted at children. The response set out a package of initiatives to strengthen protections further. These include forthcoming guidance from the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) on protecting children and young people. We do not propose to bring forward legislative proposals, but we will keep these issues under review.