This week in the House of Lords two peers used Oral Questions to push the Government to question what measures they were taking to tackle gambling-related harm in the UK.

Prevalence of child problem gamblers in the UK

The Lord Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, asked the Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of gambling among children and young people.

His question comes of the back of last year’s alarming report released by the Gambling Commission showing that the number of child gamblers has quadrupled in just two years. The figures suggest 450,000 children aged 11-16 bet on a regular basis and 55,000 children are classed as problem gamblers.

“At a time when the gambling industry is spending about £1.5 billion a year on encouraging gambling, when children are seeing three gambling adverts every day on average and when 55,000 teenagers in this country are now classified as problem gamblers, we need to look at what is happening particularly online, where young people most often see the adverts, which is outside all the previous criteria for regulation. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to regulate online advertising, which is particularly focused on our young people?” – Rt Rev Alan Smith

Read the debate in full here.

A gambling advertising ban

The second question was put forward by Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate, asking the Government what plan they have to ban gambling advertising, particularly on television, to counter the negative effects on vulnerable and young people.

Whilst the major gambling companies have voluntarily agreed to introduce a whistle-to-whistle ban to stop gambling adverts shown during football matches, children are still being bombarded with gambling adverts online and in games. Betting companies can also side-step this ban by sponsored by betting companies so that their logos appear on their football kits and in the stadiums and on the club website and merchandise.

Read the debate in full here.

Government’s Response

Lord Ashton of Hyde, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport responded on behalf of the Government to both questions. He mentioned that several bodies are conducting research into gambling that the Government would like to see before it makes any changes in law.

Two specific studies he mentioned were:

• GambleAware has commissioned substantial research on the impact of marketing advertising on children and other vulnerable people.
• Public Health England is doing wider research, which it will produce in the second half of this year, measuring the evidence for gambling-related harms.

CARE’s response

CARE’s spokesperson James Mildred said: “Gambling legislation is not working for anyone. Instead it has led to an epidemic of child problem gamblers.

“Both of these questions were rooted in evidence and reports that current gambling legislation is not working for everyone, in particular children and young people.

“Therefore, it feels like the Government is dragging its heels in awaiting further research before committing to take any action to reduce gambling-related harm.

“The Government can no longer ignore this issue. The quadrupling of child problem gamblers in the UK in the last two years show this issue is only getting worse and preventative measures must be put in place to safeguard young people.”

Read more about our work on gambling here.