Government aims to reduce harmful effects of gambling

Introduction

On 27 April 2023, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a 256 page white paper entitled High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age (Paper). The Paper sets out the government’s plan for the reform of gambling regulations following a review of the Gambling Act 2005. At the heart of the proposed reforms is the aim of protecting consumers from harm.

DCMS outlined how the major reform of gambling laws aims to protect vulnerable users in the digital age and smartphone era. The measures proposed aim to shield players from harm and addiction, and hold gambling firms accountable. Proposals include:

• a statutory gambling operator levy;
• a new online stake limit;
• player protection checks;
• new powers for the Gambling Commission (including enforcement and investigation powers);
• restricting bonus offers;
• a horseracing levy; and
• the removal of loopholes to prevent under-18s from accessing any form of online gambling.

Harm

The Paper sets out that harms associated with gambling can ruin lives, wreck families, and damage communities, with issues including mental health and relationship problems, debts that cannot be repaid, crime, or even suicide in extreme cases. Whilst the best available evidence suggests that the large majority of people who gamble suffer no ill effects, DCMS, estimate there to be approximately 300,000 people across Great Britain who meet the definition of being a ‘problem gambler’ and approximately 1.8 million people in Great Britain categorised as ‘at risk’.

Cost

The Paper confirms that the proposals will likely come with costs to the gambling industry, both in terms of upfront delivery cost but also in reduced revenue compared to current levels. DCMS currently estimate that the key proposals will lead to between a 3% and 8% reduction in Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) across the gambling sector. The expectation is that much of this will be foregone revenue from customers who were being harmed by their gambling.

Timeframe

The Gambling Commission, which will be responsible for enacting much of the Paper’s objectives has stated that the implementation of the Paper, which has over 60 areas of work for the Gambling Commission alone, will likely take a number of years to fully complete.

This is a reform process we will be watching closely as it develops over the next couple of years.