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Select committee to examine regulation of gambling

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has issued a call for written evidence after launching an examination of the Government’s approach to the regulation of gambling.

It said this followed warnings “that more needs to be done to protect people, including children, from gambling-related harm”.

The Public Accounts Committee, National Audit Office and the House of Lords Select Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry have previously called for more action to prevent problem gambling, with the DCMS Department and Gambling Commission coming in for criticism for their approach.

The Government’s review of the Gambling Act 2005 concluded last year and a White Paper on reforms to regulation is expected to be published shortly.

The DCMS Committee inquiry will be investigating “the progress the Government has made in addressing the issues raised by Parliament, how to ensure regulation can keep up with innovations in online gambling and the links between gambling and broadcasting and sport”.

The DCMS Committee is inviting written evidence on the following questions by 10 February:

  • What is the scale of gambling-related harm in the UK?
  • What should the key priorities be in the gambling White Paper?
  • How broadly should the term, ‘gambling’, be drawn?
  • Is it possible for a regulator to stay abreast of innovation in the online sphere?
  • What additional problems arise when online gambling companies are based outside of UK jurisdiction? 

DCMS Committee member Julie Elliott MP said: “Gambling acts as an enjoyable pastime for large numbers of players, but regulation is struggling to keep pace with the rapidly changing way in which it happens today. This puts people at risk of the devastating harm it can sometimes cause to lives.

"The DCMS Committee’s inquiry will look at the scale of gambling-related harm in the UK, what the Government should do about it and how a regulatory regime can best adapt to new forms of online gambling, based both in and outside the UK.”