Health and Social Care select committee set for UK Parliament meeting

Department of Health & Social Care

The health and social care select committee will hold a public meeting in Parliament this week, to look at the latest evidence related to gambling harms. 

Members of Parliament will have an opportunity to question witnesses about what role the public health teams can have, in order to reduce the potential of gambling harm. 

To learn more about responsible gambling, visit our responsible gambling at casinos page which also offers resources and advice on where to seek help if needed. 

The meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 2 April, 2025, starting at 9:30am. 

Everything that is said in these meetings will be analysed and examined by the Select Committee, with an eye to future changes that can be made. 

They will also examine the current ecosystem, to make sure it efficiently safeguards children and vulnerable people from the risks of problem-gambling. 

This is part of an initiative from the UK Government to reduce the stigma behind gambling issues, and support people coming forward to seek help for gambling-related harm. 

The 9:30am hearing will include multiple professional witnesses, including: Sam Chamberlain, professor of psychiatry at the University of Southampton and director of the Southern Gambling Treatment Clinic; Heather Wardle, co-chair at Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling and professor of gambling research and policy at the University of Glasgow; and Lucy Hubber, director of public health in Nottingham and part of the association of directors of public health. 

There will also be a 10:30am hearing, which will call forward Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE, national clinical advisor on gambling harms; Andrew Vereker, deputy director for Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities; and Tim Miller, executive director of research and policy at the Gambling Commission. 

The private hearing will start at 9:15am in The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House, and the public hearing will be broadcasted from 9:30am from the Parliament Live TV service, which is available online. 

Gambling harm and the measures that can be put in place to prevent it has been a hot topic in a lot of the UK political circles in recent weeks and has seen multiple measures put in place by the UK Gambling Commission. 

From April 2025, the UKGC will be responsible for the new statutory levy, which will see funds put into preventative studies and care. 

Last week, the Commission announced new rules that will implement a ban on bonus mixing as well as a cap on online bonus wagering, which means it can go no higher than 10x. 

The idea behind these changes being the UKGC’s wishes to end excessive and misleading promotions, which could lead to a vulnerable customer betting more than they intended too originally. 

These changes will also see a restructuring of the ‘Rewards and Bonus’ section of the LCCP, to improve clarity of their expectations. 

The UKGC have been focused on clarifying their new rules, and how they are expected to be implemented by their licensees, as they showed by launching a consultation aiming to refine their wording for the new deposit limit regulations.