MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary
State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, responding to the Gambling Commission’s
‘Young People and Gambling 2017Survey’, said:
“This new research from the gambling commission shows that there
are still far too many young people gambling in Britain today.
“It is worrying that children continue to be bombarded with
adverts promoting gambling through TV, online and via social
media. 80 per cent of young people say they see gambling
adverts on TV each week.
“The rise of ‘skins’ gambling and other forms of gambling online
or in games which encourage children to trade-in cosmetic online
items for cash, only serve to demonstrate that our gambling laws
are woefully out of date.
“The next Labour government will bring in a new Gambling Act that
ensures our gambling laws are fit for the digital age and finally
tackle Britain’s hidden gambling epidemic.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- · They
estimate that 370,000 children (11-16yr olds) gamble each week.
- · Young
people continue to be exposed to gambling advertising via a
variety of channels, with 80% having ever seen gambling
advertisements on TV, 70% on social media and 66% on other
websites.
- · The
most common activities are gambling on fruit machines (4% having
spent money on this in the past week), private bets with friends
(3%) and National Lottery scratchcards (3%).
- · Much
of the gambling activity among this age group takes place in
locations that do not require a gambling premises licence (for
example, playing on fruit machines in pubs or private bets at
school or at home)
