Gambling Act Review: Evaluation to come to a close in 2025

In partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), director of policy at the Gambling Commission, Bryony Sheldon has provided an update regarding the Gambling Act Review.

Since the release of the official white paper in April 2023, the Gambling Commission has been working alongside the DCMS and other stakeholders to rewrite policies, for the Gambling Act, that fit with today’s times (post-internet/2005).

Further, the DCMS and the Gambling Commission joined forces with the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) in March 2024 to thoroughly evaluate the Gambling Act Review.

The evaluation will assess where efforts need to be prioritised, out of the 62 proposed policy measures.

Sheldon stated: “In addition to policy development, we have been working to ensure the outcomes and impacts of such changes can be robustly monitored and evaluated, and importantly that we can capture any lessons to be learned. This contributes to the Gambling Commission’s Corporate Strategy 2024 to 2027 commitment to increase our capacity to evaluate new requirements and policies.”

The experience of operators, players and other stakeholder groups will be a key part of the evaluation in the coming months; as they will play a big part in the research side of things regarding surveys and interviews.

Other stakeholders will consist of: the advisory group (bringing in expert advice regarding policy, research and regulation), the lived experience panel (providing support, guidance and perspectives of those that have lived little to no gambling harm). These stakeholders will help the commission to see what matters are more important than others and to see where the holes are in current regulation.

The Gambling Commission and NatCen will be reaching out to stakeholders in the coming weeks with further details to be published in 2025.