Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding of the study in the Nature Human Behaviour journal The association between gambling and financial, social and health outcomes in big financial data, published on 4 February, that an individual is more likely to become a heavy gambler in a period of six months than to go from heavy gambling to abstention; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of existing gambling treatment programmes.

We have made no such assessment. Public Health England is currently undertaking an evidence review on the prevalence, determinants and harms associated with gambling, and the social and economic burden of gambling-related harms. The review is expected to be completed in March 2021.

The NHS Long Term Plan includes a commitment to open 15 specialist problem gambling clinics by 2023/24. As these services expand, NHS England will continue to explore how to make best use of existing treatment models to help problem gamblers.