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 whether the National Lottery is a potential entry point into problem gambling and gambling related harm for vulnerable people.

Problem gambling is a complex issue and there are multiple and varied factors which contribute to its development in individuals, even within demographic groups. The government launched its Review of the Gambling Act 2005 on 8 December with the publication of a Call for Evidence. The Review will be wide-ranging and evidence led and aims to make sure we have the right protections in place to make gambling safer for all.

While all forms of gambling carry risk, the National Lottery is associated with the lowest rates of problem gambling of all products. Evidence from the 2018 Health Survey for England showed that problem gambling rates for National Lottery draw-based games were 0.9% while the figure for Scratchcards was 1.4%.