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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of gaming machines to the level of pubs’ supplementary income.

The Government recognises the contribution of pubs to the nighttime economy in the UK, as well as the commercial pressures they face.

Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission do not hold official statistics on the contribution of gaming machines to the level of pubs’ supplementary income, we recognise that gaming machines are an important source of revenue to many pubs across the country.

Trade associations representing the pub sector, including the British Beer and Pub Association, UK Hospitality and the British Institute of Innkeeping, recently emphasised the importance of gaming machines in pubs, estimating that 48% of pubs have at least one gaming machine, with the total income from these machines equating to £622m per year.