Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what representations she has received from the Government of Gibraltar regarding the potential impact of changes to gambling levies on its economy.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has not received any direct representations from the Government of Gibraltar regarding the potential impact of changes to gambling levies on its economy.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to Minister's statement to the House on 26 June 2025, what assessment she has made of the merits of comparing identical time frames.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are confident in the findings set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 June 2025 on society lotteries and prize draws. They are supported by a wide range of data and analysis, including official Industry Statistics published by the Gambling Commission, publicly available data published by operators, and from the robust independent research which was published on the same day.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of banking safeguards for protecting vulnerable customers, especially the use of gambling blocks and loopholes using open-banking gateways.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that harmful gambling can wreck the lives of individuals, families and communities. Working with the Gambling Commission, we are committed to strengthening protections for those at risk through a range of new safer gambling requirements.
The vast majority of banks offer gambling bank blocks, a useful tool to help vulnerable customers control their gambling. We encourage all banks to offer gambling blocks to improve the availability of these tools and support the work of organisations, such as Money Mental Health Lab, to improve the safer gambling tools offered by the financial sector.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of gambling harms among serving members of the Armed Forces.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Defence recognises that gambling-related harms can have significant impacts on the health and wellbeing of Service personnel. In addition to the limits placed on gambling by Kings Regulations, active efforts are made to highlight both the harms of problem gambling and the available support, in awareness campaigns.
Defence has worked with Swansea University to help understand gambling harms. This research and other academic work inform our current assessment of the levels of gambling harms specifically within the Serving population.
Further initiatives to build understanding include the new Defence Primary Healthcare Gambling pathway, which has been developed by the Defence Medical Services to ensure there is robust clinical pathway for those at risk, but will also present an opportunity to collect information to inform targeted interventions.
The Defence Public Health Unit engages proactively with Department of Health counterparts and will continue to work cross-Government to secure the best possible evidence and insight into how to support Service personnel with gambling issues. Alongside the Single Services, the Public Health Unit continues to work with external agencies and charities that offer support to Service personnel.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the NHS on improving prevention and treatment of gambling harms among Armed Forces personnel and veterans.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence takes problem-gambling very seriously and works closely with Armed Forces personnel and Veterans who require support.
The comprehensive Defence Primary Health Care Gambling pathway within the Defence Medical Services, assesses and supports Service personnel who come forward with a gambling issue and, when required, refers them to specialist NHS gambling services and clinics. Service personnel can also self-refer into these services.
This pathway includes an assessment of gambling addiction using recognised validated assessment tools such as the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Data collected from these assessments can be used to help Defence monitor and understand the scale of gambling harms within Service personnel.
Defence engages routinely with NHS colleagues delivering specialist gambling prevention and treatment services. The Public Health Unit within Defence engages proactively with Department of Health counterparts and will continue to work cross-Government to secure the best possible evidence and insight into how to support Service personnel with gambling issues.
Veterans are eligible for gambling addiction treatment through the NHS. The Office for Veterans' Affairs in the Ministry of Defence regularly works with the third sector and academia to ensure veteran-specific needs are understood.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the Problem Gambling Severity Index score for players of (a) The National Lottery, (b) Society Lotteries, and (c) instant win scratch cards.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to tackling gambling-related harm. DCMS regularly reviews the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) from the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey of Great Britain and uses it as one of a range of sources of evidence.
In 2024, the proportion of National Lottery players who experienced ‘problem gambling’ (a PGSI score of 8+) is 3.9% for draw games, 9.5% for instant win games, and 7.9% for scratchcards.
The rate of Society Lottery PGSI 8+ scores is 4.9%.
The rate of non-National Lottery scratchcards PGSI 8+ is 14.5%.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of gambling warnings for prize draw competitions advertised on websites, radio and tv shows.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families, and we are committed to strengthening measures to protect those at risk.
In November 2025, we launched a Voluntary Code for prize draw operators. The Code was developed in collaboration with the prize draw industry. It aims to promote best practice standards to strengthen player protections, transparency and accountability for those participating in prize draws.
In the development of the Code, we consulted with broadcasters and their trade associations and concluded the Code would not apply to this sector. We are satisfied that the fundamental principles of increased player protections, transparency and accountability that underpin the Voluntary Code are largely addressed by broadcasters through their existing regulatory bodies and governing principles. In particular, broadcasters’ draws and competitions are already subject to established, comprehensive regulatory frameworks enforced by different bodies, such as Ofcom.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to gambling duties on Gibraltar's economy.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Increasing gambling duties will raise over £1 billion per year to support the public finances and forms part of our ambition to create a fair, modern and sustainable tax system.
The changes affect all businesses that offer gambling services to UK customers. The government understands that Gibraltar has a gambling industry that faces the UK, and will continue to monitor all impacts of these changes.
A Tax Information and Impact Note setting out the expected impacts was published at Budget and can be found here:
Gambling duty changes - GOV.UK
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent steps to tackle problem gambling on online platforms.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, alongside the Gambling Commission, are currently conducting an evaluation of some of the key measures set out in the white paper ‘High Stakes: gambling reform for the digital age’, including online measures. The outcomes of this evaluation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to give councils additional planning powers to help tackle unwanted uses such as barbers, vape shops and betting shops.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has no current plans to amend local planning authorities’ powers along the lines suggested.
The government is empowering communities to curate healthy, vibrant public spaces through the Pride in Place Strategy.
We have committed to introduce Cumulative Impact Assessments in respect of gambling licensing which will allow councils to take data-driven decisions on premises licences, particularly in areas that have been identified as being vulnerable to gambling-related harm.