Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, has been continuing his campaigning for those affected, financially or otherwise, by gambling.
Richard is on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a select committee which looks at Government and public spending - including on effective regulation. Richard has previously quizzed the gambling commission about fines they issue and how they are protecting children and the vulnerable, as well as crime that comes as a result of gambling. You can watch Richard in his role here. He has previously been campaigning for those affected by gambling, which you can read about here.
Richard, along with James Wild MP, has been leading PAC work on gambling and has worked with PAC to produce a report that highlights the detrimental effect of the 2005 Gambling Act and the work that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has done. The report has cross party support, as well as support from industry figures, academics and health professionals. PAC worked with people who have been affected by gambling to produce the report.
The report found that DCMS has been ‘complacent’ and that, along with the regulator it oversees, the Gambling Commission, has ‘failed to adequately protect consumers’. There are around 395,000 problem gamblers in the United Kingdom, but many more people are considered to be ‘at risk’. Whilst other issues are approached on the basis that prevention is better than cure, the DCMS was ‘unwilling’ to accept this premise that preventing harm would be better than treating problem gamblers.
The report has included urgent recommendations, which are:
- Swift research is required – DCMS should, within three months, write to PAC to set out actions they will take, or have taken, to ensure that they have the research and evidence needed to improve understanding of gambling problems and to design an effective regulatory response. DCMS has not ‘proactively funded’ gambling related research yet.
- The Gambling Commission should provide an update on gambling patterns during coronavirus and the lockdown, as well as an update on any regulatory action it has taken against the industry. Measures need to be taken to improve the data it uses to see where things are going wrong for consumers and how the Commission could intervene more quickly in order to prevent harm.
- The Gambling Commission should ensure a plan is set in place to mean it is more proactive in ensuring the industry treats consumers better. It also should urgently investigate the impact of fixed odds betting, especially that which is accessible by 16- and 17-year olds. Online betting should also urgently be looked at to ensure harm can be reduced.
- DCMS and the Gambling Commission should assess the impact on consumers of gaps in compensation arrangements and statutory protections in this area should be increased.
- DCMS and the Gambling Commission should develop more meaningful measures to problem gambling and the harm it can cause. This should include progressing the measures of the effect of interventions taken and the effectiveness of penalties imposed on the industry.
- DCMS should set out a timetable for a review of the 2005 Gambling Act within 3 months, with a focus on online gambling. This should include a review on ensuring that the Gambling Commission has the funding needed to regulate effectively.
The full report can be read here.
Richard has spoken about the report and his work in this area on Sky News, which you can watch here. He spoke about how the online gambling industry has grown enormously over the past few years and how the Gambling Act 2005 needs urgent review to prevent consumers being continuously let down.
Commenting, Richard said ‘This report is a really incredibly important one. It is absolutely clear that, due to the complacency of DCMS, the Gambling Commission and legislative failures, lives across the country are being destroyed and people do not have access to the redress they so badly need and deserve. The odds are stacked against consumers in the gambling industry like no other industry and we need to see urgent improvements in this area. Nearly 400,000 people in the UK are problem gamblers and this means that they are at risk of devastating effects, including major financial problems, bankruptcy, relationship break ups and there are those who end up taking their own lives. This has to change. I am really pleased I have had the chance to work on this and to work with James Wild as we are both absolutely committed to ensuring that the work we do and this report makes a real difference and stops exploitation of the vulnerable.’
To hear more about the work that Richard is doing for North West Durham, you can sign up here or input your details in the form on this page.