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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations from the Commission on Crime and Gambling Related Harms, published in April 2023 on the use of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Under the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, the Gambling Commission requires operators to prevent gambling being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime and disorder, or being used to support crime.

The Home Office has introduced legislation in the Crime and Policing Bill to make improvements to the confiscation regime, including to ensure that a confiscation order more accurately reflects the benefit from crime. The draft bill contains no specific provisions for certain sectors, including the gambling sector. However, the Home Office will engage the gambling sector on how the legislative changes will be implemented in their sector in due course.

The introduction of a statutory levy on gambling operators will, however, represent a generational change to funding arrangements and a renewed commitment to improving efforts to further understand, tackle and treat harmful gambling. As set out in our public consultation, the prevention stream could see investment directed for projects to build capacity and expertise in frontline settings to increase responsiveness to gambling harm, including criminal justice settings.