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 whether there has been an increased risk of problem gambling among (a) adults and (b) children and young people through in-game purchases in video games during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking to mitigate such risks.

The government has no evidence of a causative link between in-games purchases and problem gambling, and we have no evidence that this has changed during the covid-19 outbreak. However, we continue to monitor the situation closely.

The government takes concerns around gambling-like behaviour in video games very seriously. We have committed to a review of the Gambling Act, with a particular focus on tackling issues around loot boxes. Further details will be set out in the government response to the DCMS Select Committee’s report on Immersive and Addictive Technologies which will be published shortly.

We also continue to work with industry and the age ratings bodies to encourage the use of parental controls that can disable or limit spending on devices, and welcomed the launch in January 2020 of the games industry’s Get Smart About P.L.A.Y. campaign encouraging parents to use parental controls and take an active role in their children’s gaming. We also welcome PEGI’s decision to introduce a new ‘paid random items’ content label.