UK Health and Social Care Committee to lead review into gambling industry
As part of the session, the government hopes to gain greater understanding of the risks of gambling-related harm and how they are advanced by industry developments
The UK government’s Health and Social Care Select Committee is set to conduct an examination into the “current gambling landscape” this week.
On Wednesday morning (2 April), the committee will review the state of the market and the risk of gambling-related harm as a result of advancements made in gambling products.
The government has shed light on the reasons behind the planned evaluation, noting that it wants to “facilitate a cultural shift” and help increase the understanding of gambling-related harm to reduce the stigma surrounding seeking help.
As part of the oral evidence session, MPs are expected to debate how to construct a public health response to problem gambling, establishing what part the government can play in the process.
To gain clarity on the public health response, MPs will ask witnesses for their stance on what services public health teams need to have at their disposal within wider local authority services to reduce the rate of problem gambling.
The witnesses, which include Tim Miller, executive director of research and policy for the Gambling Commission (GC), and Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE, national clinical advisor on gambling harms at NHS England, will be asked if the safeguards currently in place do enough to protect vulnerable groups.
Ahead of the GC’s responsibility to collect and administer statutory levy payments from April 6, witnesses will face questions from MPs on the “commissioning of effective treatment and prevention services” alongside questions on the GC’s role as the UK regulator.
Other witnesses include Professor Sam Chamberlain, professor of psychiatry at the University of Southampton and director of the Southern Gambling Treatment Clinic, and Professor Heather Wardle, co-chair of Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling and professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow.
As well as Lucy Hubber, director of public health in Nottingham and member of the Association of Directors of Public Health, and Andrew Vereker, deputy director for tobacco, alcohol and gambling in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
According to the GC’s annual report for 2023-2024, around 25 million people in England gambled over the course of 2023.
In the financial year ending March 2024, the same statistics show that the British gambling industry generated a gross gambling yield of £15.6bn.
Further research from boutique analyst firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) estimates the UK’s black market to be worth as much as £1.5bn in net gaming revenue for CY 2024.