Public Accounts Committee to hold inquiry on problem gambling and regulation

The influential Public Accounts Committee is to conduct an inquiry into problem gambling, beginning by questioning officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission on Monday (27 April) on how well the current regulatory framework protects gamblers.

MPs will also ask officials about how current restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could affect those susceptible to the negative impacts of gambling.

The DCMS has overall responsibility for the policy and regulatory framework in the area.

The PAC inquiry comes after the National Audit Office published a report, Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people’, in February which examined how well gambling regulation protects people from gambling-related harms and addresses new risks from social and technological developments.

The watchdog found that there were an estimated 395,000 problem gamblers in Great Britain, with 1.8m more gamblers at risk who might also be experiencing harm.

The NAO concluded that the Gambling Commission was improving its regulation but had more to do including taking a more strategic approach to influencing gambling operators to raise standards.

The report warned that even with improvements, the Commission’s ability to protect gamblers faced constraints in the regulatory framework, including inflexible funding and gaps in redress arrangements, and that the Commission was unlikely to be fully effective in addressing risks and harms to consumers within the current arrangements.