Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 18
Second Report - Gambling regulation
Published 21 Dec 2023
Paragraph 100
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Gambling regulation All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The accessibility of online gambling means that some of the supply-level restrictions on the land-based sector are less relevant than when the Gambling Act 2005 was passed. The Committee therefore considers that the White Paper’s proposed reforms to modernise land-based gambling are appropriate. However, in its response to this report, the Government must set out how it and the Gambling Commission will be monitoring the impact of these changes, particularly the increased availability of Category B gaming machines in high street venues, on the risk of gambling harm.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Second Report - Gambling regulation (HC 176), paragraph 100, 21 December 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 April 2024 (deadline 19 April 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says the white paper's measures will be implemented quickly, through secondary legislation, existing powers and voluntary industry action rather than a standalone Bill.
- On online slots, it has confirmed a statutory maximum stake of £5 per spin for those aged 25 and over and £2 for 18 to 24-year-olds, which it says align with the Committee's recommended range of £2 to £5. These take effect in September, following Parliamentary approval.
- On financial risk checks, it is committed to a "proportionate, frictionless system". The Gambling Commission will run a pilot for enhanced risk assessments, launching this summer, and will publish its consultation response "in due course".
- On point-of-sale information about product risk, it "notes" the recommendation and says existing risk-measurement models are not "sufficiently granular". It prefers design rules applying to all games, while a Department of Health and Social Care evidence review will inform new messaging.
- On the statutory levy, it says it remains "on track" to introduce it by secondary legislation "by this summer". It will publish its consultation response "in the coming weeks".