The UK Gambling Related Harm All Party Parliamentary Group (GRH APPG) has announced that after a meeting this week, it had set out the work program for the year and re-elected its officers.
The Aim to Ensure Safer Gambling
The program will look at all aspects of harm in the industry. These include areas such as:
- The age level for purchasing scratch-cards
- The normalization of gambling
- Gambling advertising and
- The ‘gamblification’ of sport.
The APPG said it ‘welcomed’ the Government’s decision this month to ban credit card transactions in gambling which was their recommendation based on the interim report in November 2019.
The group will also call upon the Gambling Commission and the Gambling Minister. He is to appear before the Group to contribute to the APPG’s final report. It will go public in the coming months.
Moreover, the Group agreed that it would now be campaigning to ensure that the remaining recommendations set out in its report were also actively taken forward including restrictions on the staking levels online, on gambling advertising and the statutory ‘smart’ levy to fund research, education and treatment.
The Re-election
Carolyn Harris MP is the Chair of the Group again. The Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, Ronnie Cowan MP, Lord Foster and Sammy Wilson MP were elected as Vice-Chairs of the Group.
Carolyn Harris MP said he was happy to have been re-elected Chair of the GRH APPG.
“Gambling related harm is an issue that is very close to my heart and one I am extremely passionate about. The APPG is not anti-gambling, we support a safe and sustainable industry.
Our primary concern is to continue to champion the cause for better regulation.”
Harris said that they were resolute to make all parts of the industry operate openly and fairly. Furthermore, they are to operate in a way that “does not prey on vulnerable people.”
