Members of the House of Lords are calling for a full scale ban on gambling advertising across the UK in the latest political push against the sector.
The House of Lords Liaison Committee has published its follow-up report, Gambling Harm – Time for Action, which recommends a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising.
It comes just days after the Local Health and Global Profits (LHGP) research consortium made the same pleas as the UK public continues to show concern around the promotion of the gambling sector.
The committee has leant on the moves against gambling advertising in “several other jurisdictions” – moves it argued have left the UK behind as a “comparative outlier”.
For example, the Netherlands recently introduced plans for a blanket ban on gambling advertising, while in Australia, a jurisdiction where politicians have been under major pressure to implement reforms, gambling ads have now been limited to three-per-hour.
It builds on the Gambling Industry Committee’s report from July 2020, which recommended a public health approach to tackling gambling-related harms.
Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, senior deputy speaker and chair of the House of Lords Liaison Committee, said “Following up on the work of previous committees is a vital part of effective scrutiny and holding governments to account. Six years have elapsed since the Gambling Industry Committee published its important report on the social and economic impact of the gambling industry.
“The time was right to reassess this crucial policy area, focusing on the topic of gambling advertising where the former committee’s strong recommendations have been largely unaddressed and where substantial developments in the gambling advertising landscape since 2020 have demanded a re-evaluation of the policy options.”
Member of the former committee and current chair of Peers for Gambling Reform (PGR), Lord Foster of Bath, wants to see advertising return to a status where it was “restricted on the basis that gambling should be tolerated but not stimulated”.
He said: “Up to a million and a half people in Britain experience problem gambling and the serious consequences this has on them, their families and the wider community.
“A ban on most gambling advertising would reduce gambling and therefore reduce problem gambling and the serious harm it causes.
“We are clear that this would shrink, rather than grow, the gambling sector and that this would make a positive difference to millions of people across the country.”
The committee is effectively calling for a reversal of some key terms of the 2005 Gambling Act. Prior to the act, only bingo, football pools, the National Lottery, and social lotteries were able to advertise on TV and radio.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has been consulting on banning unlicensed sponsors for much of the year in a bid to clampdown on illegal and unlicensed gambling activity.
Although the Lords report does seem to at least address concerns regarding the illegal gambling market, it suggested this should not completely eliminate licensed operators from being further restricted.
“The committee recognises that stronger action is needed to tackle unregulated gambling, but was unconvinced by claims that restrictions on advertising by licensed operators will lead to displacement of customers to the illegal market,” the report stated.
“Concerns over the illegal market must therefore not be a barrier to addressing the clear harms generated by the licensed sector.”
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