Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to tackle the practices of illegal and unlicensed gambling operators to ensure that consumers are supported from gambling harm.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is acutely aware of the impact harmful gambling can have on individuals and their families, and is committed to strengthening protections for those at risk. We are also committed to working closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed.
As part of the 2025 Budget, the Treasury announced that the Gambling Commission will receive an additional ÂŁ26 million across three years to increase investment, resources and capacity to tackle the illegal market. In addition, the Crime and Policing Act, which received Royal Assent in April 2026, enables the Commission to apply for new powers to obtain orders to suspend internet protocol addresses and internet domain names linked to illegal gambling.
We launched the Illegal Gambling Taskforce at the beginning of this year which brings together a wide range of stakeholders to take action against the illegal market. We are also consulting on banning physical manifestations of unlicensed gambling sponsorships and advertising in Great Britain across all sectors, including sport.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 22 July 2026, to Question 18828, on Gambling Commission: Staff, whether Gambling Commission staff are required to follow the principles of the Civil Service Code.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Gambling Commission employees are Public Servants and therefore are not bound by the Civil Service Code. The Gambling Commission has its own Employee Code of Conduct which reflects public service principles.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what is the Gambling Commission Board's expected timetable recruiting a chief executive.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Gambling Commission hope to have completed the recruitment process for a new Chief Executive by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress the Illegal Gambling Taskforce has made since its establishment; and what its objectives are for the next 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Illegal Gambling Taskforce is bringing together a range of stakeholders to consider how to tackle the illegal gambling market. The Taskforce is focusing on three issues relating to illegal gambling. These are the advertising of illegal gambling, preventing payments associated with illegal gambling and improving collaboration between regulators, agencies and law enforcement. The Taskforce has made good progress through its working groups since it was launched in January. We plan to report on this once the Taskforce has completed its first year.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Gambling Commission is investigating the bets placed on the appointment of the current Chancellor of the Exchequer before his appointment, as reported in The Mail on Sunday on 26 July.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Gambling Commission is the independent regulator for gambling in Great Britain.
The Government does not comment on operational matters or on any investigations which the Commission may or may not be undertaking.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 28 August 2026, to Question 18828, on Gambling Commission: staff, what other central government public bodies have public servant staff which are neither crown servants or civil servants.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Out of a total of 304 Arm’s Length Bodies in 2023/24, 241 ALBs employed staff who were neither crown servants nor civil servants. The vast majority of this non-civil service workforce was concentrated within Executive NDPBs, where 118 ALBs accounted for 150,847 FTE staff.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will consider requiring National Lottery tickets and scratchcards to be sold only through separate transactions paid for by debit card or cash, in order to ensure consistency with restrictions on credit card gambling.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The National Lottery continues to lead the gambling sector with robust, industry-leading consumer protections and consistently low rates of gambling-related harm.
The Gambling Commission actively monitors rates of gambling-related harm and provides regular updates to DCMS on trends related to the National Lottery. There are currently no plans to change payment methods for in-person National Lottery play.
Asked by: Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of financial risk assessments on the number of consumers using unlicensed gambling operators.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
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 ÂŁ26 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: 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 Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
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 ÂŁ26 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: Lord Udny-Lister (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to evaluate the cumulative effect of measures introduced following the White Paper on Gambling Reform for the Digital Age before making further regulatory changes.
Answered by Baroness Mackenzie of Sherwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
An evaluation is underway to assess the impact of various measures that have been introduced as part of the 2023 Gambling White Paper. DCMS and the Gambling Commission commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to undertake this evaluation in January 2024.
The evaluation will seek to establish whether these measures are being delivered effectively, understand if there are any unintended consequences, and capture learning to inform future policy development. We expect the evaluation report to be published later this year.
However we will continue to consider further reforms where technology develops, consumer behaviour changes or risks arise. Any future regulatory changes will always be based on evidence.