Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the cross-sport Code of Conduct is (a) robust and (b) workable in practice; and what lessons she has learnt from the application of CAP code 2.1 for regulation of breaches of the Code.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All domestic sports governing bodies have agreed to four core principles underpinning the cross-sport Code of Conduct on gambling sponsorship: (i) protecting children and young people (ii) socially responsible promotion (iii) reinvestment into sport (iv) maintaining sporting integrity. These principles put in place a robust minimum standard for sponsorship across all sports. Through the code, a proportion of in-stadia advertising will be dedicated to safer gambling messaging, and replica kits for adults will be made available without gambling logos, alongside the existing requirements for childrens’ replica kits.
Sports governing bodies must have sufficient flexibility to implement these principles in a way which maximises impact for the sports and their fans. Bespoke, sport-specific Codes are currently being designed by individual sports governing bodies, and will be implemented in due course. The Premier League and English Football League plan to have their Codes in place by next season. DCMS will continue to work closely with sports on their implementation and enforcement practices.
As a licence condition, gambling operators must comply with the restrictions set out in the Advertising Codes, which includes robust rules under section 2 regulating the recognition of marketing communications. Under these rules, marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such and make clear their commercial intent, if that is not obvious from the context. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) can and does take action against breaches, and a recent ruling can be found here. Operators are liable to enforcement action from the Gambling Commission if affiliates which they pay to carry out marketing activities do not comply with the rules.
Mentions:
1: Ewing, Annabelle (SNP - Cowdenbeath) housing at Fife Council, because we need to see some urgency on this case, so that my constituent’s young - Speech Link
2: Dowey, Sharon (Con - South Scotland) Will the cabinet secretary tell the people of Ayrshire what he is doing to reverse the decline? - Speech Link
3: Stewart, Kevin (SNP - Aberdeen Central) Covid has exacerbated the harms from gambling, with more women now reporting that they have a gambling - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) Of course, local authorities have to make sure that people who say they are veterans are veterans, but - Speech Link
2: Baroness Lampard (Con - Life peer) Veterans are 10 times more likely than non-veterans to experience gambling harms, and to gamble as a - Speech Link
3: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) There is also, of course, a national gambling helpline giving advice. - Speech Link
4: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con - Life peer) We should encourage young people to look at this option. - Speech Link
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help prevent addiction to gambling among young people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people at risk of gambling harms and addiction.
We recently published a white paper following our Review of the Gambling Act 2005, and are working with the Gambling Commission and other stakeholders to bring these measures into force as soon as possible, subject to further consultation where appropriate. The paper introduces a range of proportionate measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected, including young people. These include strengthening the land-based age verification regime, especially around gaming machines in pubs, bringing society lotteries and football pools into line with the National Lottery by raising the minimum age to 18, and putting new expectations on operators to consider age as a potential factor in customer vulnerability.
Over recent years, the Government has worked with the Gambling Commission and others on a range of measures to protect young people from gambling related harm. This includes tightening the age verification requirements for both land-based and online operators in 2019, and raising the minimum age to play the National Lottery to 18 and over in 2021. Last year the Committees of Advertising Practice updated advertising rules so that gambling adverts cannot have strong appeal to children even if they appeal more to adults.
In addition to these regulatory changes, specific steps have been taken to prevent and treat gambling harm in young people. Since September 2020, teaching young people about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, has been included in the curriculum for all schools under Health Education in all state-funded schools, alongside Relationships Education (primary) and Relationships and Sex Education (secondary). In 2019 the NHS young person gambling addiction service was also launched.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to introduce age verification checks for online streams of gambling content.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that it is particularly important to take steps to protect young people from online harms and is aware of issues around online streaming of gambling content. We welcome the measures which some streaming platforms have taken to ban the streaming of gambling content where it may reach underage audiences.
Many online streamers of gambling content have affiliations with the gambling sites on which they play to target consumers in Great Britain and encourage them to gamble. This brings them under the current regulatory umbrella for gambling advertising. Where streams amount to advertising then they are subject to the robust rules that are in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This ensures licensees are held to account for the activities of their marketing affiliates.
Further, there are robust age verification requirements in place to prevent children from creating online gambling accounts or accessing facilities to gamble themselves, even where they have seen streams. As outlined in the white paper, the measures introduced in 2019 have been effective in preventing children from being able to gamble online with either their own or invented identities.
Special Report Apr. 19 2024
Committee: Culture, Media and Sport Committee (Department: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport)Found: Sixth Special - Gambling regulation: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report HC 698 Special
May. 16 2024
Source Page: Age limits introduced to protect children in RSHEFound: The guidance has also been strengthened to help young people to understand the benefits of rationing
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the guidance on Loot boxes in video games: update on improvements to industry-led protections, published by her Department on 18 July 2023, what steps she is taking to review the impact of these measures on protecting people from gambling harm.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Following the Government response to the call for evidence on loot boxes in video games, the Government has welcomed new industry-led guidance that aims to protect young people from gambling harm.
Measures to protect young people should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes should be unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and all players should have access to, and be aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.
DCMS has published a Video Games Research Framework to support high quality independent research into video games, building understanding of the impact of video games, including loot boxes.
In parallel to the framework, we are now working closely with academics to ensure specific and robust evaluation of the implementation and efficacy of the new industry-led measures on loot boxes in meeting the government’s objectives. We will provide an update following a 12-month implementation period.
Mentions:
1: Philip Davies (Con - Shipley) likely to make things worse for people with a gambling addiction, rather than better. - Speech Link
2: Paul Blomfield (Lab - Sheffield Central) 1.5 million people—score over eight on the problem gambling severity index. - Speech Link
3: Laurence Robertson (Con - Tewkesbury) be liable to become addicted to gambling, rather than people who spend too much on gambling. - Speech Link
4: Kenny MacAskill (Alba - East Lothian) When I was young, they always seemed quite intimidatory. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Viscount Stansgate (Lab - Excepted Hereditary) It is highly competitive, and the most brilliant young people came. - Speech Link
2: Lord Young of Norwood Green (Lab - Life peer) I start with JK Rowling, who has probably encouraged more young people to read books than anybody else - Speech Link
3: Baroness Sater (Con - Life peer) I declare my interest as a vice-chair of the APPG on Financial Education for Young People. - Speech Link