Asked by: Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that financial risk assessments in the licensed gambling sector are frictionless for consumers.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to supporting the implementation of key measures in the 2023 Gambling White Paper, including the introduction of Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) for online gambling.
The Gambling Commission’s pilot demonstrated that Financial Risk Assessments can be undertaken without friction in 97% of cases. Given that less than 3% of accounts will meet the threshold for assessment, that means around 99.9% of all active accounts will either have no assessment or these checks will happen without friction.
The Government recognises that the threat of movement to the illegal market does exist, but this does not mean that we should avoid appropriate controls on licensed operators. The illegal market is best tackled by improving player safety and managing risk.
We are already taking wider action to tackle the illegal market. Key measures include an additional £26 million of funding over three years for the Gambling Commission to enable them to increase their activity to tackle the illegal market; a consultation on banning physical unlicensed gambling sponsorship and advertising; and the establishment of the Illegal Gambling Taskforce, which will consider what more can be done to tackle the threats posed by the illegal market.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's planned timetable is for launching the consultation on repealing the legal duty to aim to permit gambling from the Gambling Act 2005.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 11 August 2026, the Department intends to launch a consultation on revoking the ‘Aim to Permit’ shortly. We also plan to publish an outcome from the previous consultation on bingo licensing and Category D gaming machines. Precise timelines will be communicated to stakeholders in due course.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of data provided by gambling operators on land-based gambling, including where records are not held digitally.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Land-based operators have a duty to share data with the Gambling Commission on regulatory returns. Condition 15.3.1 of the License Conditions and Codes of Practice states that ‘within 28 days of the end of each quarterly period licensees must submit an accurate Regulatory Return to the Commission’. In addition, changes to Regulatory Returns which came into effect on 1 July 2024 also require all operators, including land-based, to submit Regulatory Returns every quarter from July 2024.
The Commission also has a rigorous data quality assurance process and, where appropriate, queries all the data submitted. Quarterly updates and the full annual official industry statistics are subsequently published on the Commission’s website.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a geographic concentration of higher-stake gaming machines in deprived communities on people in those areas.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
While the Government recognises that in England, gambling premises are more likely to be situated in the most deprived areas, we do not hold official data on the relationship between deprivation and the geographic concentration of higher-stake gaming machines.
The Prime Minister’s recent announcement that we intend to revoke the ‘aim to permit’ is a step further in the government's aim to give local people a real say over what businesses can open in their town centres and how their streets should look. This will allow councils to make decisions that take into account local circumstances such as geographic concentration and deprivation. The government will consult on these changes and further details of the consultation will be published in due course.
In addition to consulting on the ‘aim to permit’, the government also intends to proceed with the commencement of Gambling Impact Assessments (GIAs), introduced through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026. GIAs will strengthen the power of licensing authorities to reject applications for new gambling premises, by designating certain areas where the grant of a premises licence is “not likely to be reasonably consistent with one or more of the licensing objectives” given the cumulative impact of licences in an area, or for any other reason. We will consider the role of GIAs in a new licensing regime as part of the government's forthcoming consultation.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of financial penalties for gambling operators in relation to breaches involving adult gaming centres, and whether further measures are needed to strengthen enforcement.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Where there is evidence of non-compliance with the license conditions, the Gambling Commission takes decisive regulatory action. This includes the suspension of licenses and financial penalties for operators. In the last year, the Commission has issued 11 financial penalties and one regulatory settlement to adult gaming centres involved in breaches, totalling £205,149. All licencees subject to suspension had their licenses restored within a few days after taking immediate steps to address failings, highlighting the effectiveness of the Commission’s enforcement work.
In addition to the Gambling Commission's compliance and enforcement activity, several further measures have been introduced to strengthen protections in adult gaming centres. This includes the Government's decision not to proceed with further deregulation after self-exclusion failures were identified in several AGCs, the requirement for AGCs to contribute to the the statutory gambling levy to support the research and prevention of gambling harm, and the review of the Gaming Machine Technical Standards, which will further improve player protections for gaming machines.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what arrangements are in place for voluntary sector providers and people with lived experience of gambling harm to inform the work of the Gambling Levy Programme Board and Gambling Levy Delivery Group.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Levy Programme Board provides oversight of the levy system, while the Gambling Levy Delivery Group brings together research, prevention and treatment commissioners at a working level. Terms of Reference for both forums have been published on gov.uk. The Government recognises the importance of embedding voluntary sector expertise and lived experience of gambling harm into the governance of the statutory levy and it is important that this inclusion is meaningful and appropriate. Commissioners under the levy are therefore developing their own models for engagement with the lived experience community and the wider sector to allow for the most meaningful contribution. DCMS is also actively considering how we can ensure representatives from the sector can give feedback on the levy system as a whole.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to publish its first annual report on statutory gambling levy finances and progress against levy objectives.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department plans to publish a report on the gambling levy by the end of the year.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with devolved Governments to ensure that changes to gambling harm commissioning arrangements do not create gaps in referral pathways between England, Scotland and Wales.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioners under the statutory gambling levy across Great Britain work collaboratively, including through the Gambling Levy Delivery Group, to support a coordinated approach and ensure that people experiencing gambling harms can access the support they need when and where they need it. As health is a devolved matter, England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for commissioning their own gambling harms treatment pathways under the levy. Where a person living in Scotland or Wales contacts a treatment service in England, they will be signposted to an appropriate service in their respective country.
NHS England has facilitated a £20 million grant funding scheme for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in 2026/27. This represents an increase in funding for these services compared with previous years and, alongside increased funding for regional National Health Service gambling services, has increased treatment system capacity.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people whose referrals to gambling harm treatment services have been disrupted by changes to commissioning arrangements since 1 April 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Commissioners under the statutory gambling levy across Great Britain work collaboratively, including through the Gambling Levy Delivery Group, to support a coordinated approach and ensure that people experiencing gambling harms can access the support they need when and where they need it. As health is a devolved matter, England, Scotland and Wales are responsible for commissioning their own gambling harms treatment pathways under the levy. Where a person living in Scotland or Wales contacts a treatment service in England, they will be signposted to an appropriate service in their respective country.
NHS England has facilitated a £20 million grant funding scheme for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations in 2026/27. This represents an increase in funding for these services compared with previous years and, alongside increased funding for regional National Health Service gambling services, has increased treatment system capacity.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her department has made of the potential merits of revising the funding methodology for the gambling harm prevention grant.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessment is considered necessary at present, but the Government will always keep these matters under review.