DCMS to launch cross-party select committee into gambling regulation

The Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS) has launched a select committee examining the government’s approach to gambling regulation.

This move comes after the government department received criticism for not doing enough to protect people, including children, from gambling-related harm.

The most vocal censure has come from the Public Accounts Committee, National Audit Office and a House of Lords Committee, all of which have said that DCMS has taken the wrong approach and more action needs to be taken to prevent problem gambling, with the current problem gambling rate in the UK sitting at 0.3%, according to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

The new select committee will look at the government’s progress towards tackling the concerns raised as well as how regulation can keep up with ever-advancing technology.

There has also been a call for evidence by the committee, which requests organisations to submit written evidence on a number of topics, including what they consider should be the key priorities of the upcoming white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review.

Other topics include the scale of problem gambling in the UK and what problems arise from operators based outside of the UK cause.

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,” she added.

This new move by the DCMS indicates that the white paper will be published in the new year following multiple delays, with the collective personnel changes at Westminster a contributary root cause.

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has already welcomed the announcement of the new committee as a further opportunity for the industry to show its continued commitment to raising safer gambling standards and demonstrate support for the UK economy.

Michael Dugher, the BGC CEO, said: “As the standards body for much of the regulated industry, we strongly welcome this inquiry announced today as a further opportunity for the regulated sector to show our continued commitment to raising standards in safer gambling.

“I am sure that the committee’s inquiry, like the government’s Gambling Act review, will be genuinely ‘evidence led’ and has to will? strike a careful balance in making recommendations that are about protecting the vulnerable, whilst not unfairly impacting on the millions of customers who bet perfectly safely and responsibly.”