Carolyn Harris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Carolyn Harris on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of whether the Code of Conduct for bookmakers is meeting the aims for which it was drawn up.

Tracey Crouch

All betting shop operators are required by the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Code of Practice to have social responsibility policies and processes in place. In addition, the industry trade body the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) has a mandatory code of conduct in place, which is reviewed regularly to evaluate its effectiveness.

I have explained to the industry that I expect them to demonstrate that they are improving existing player protection initiatives and evaluating the effects of previous initiatives. As I said at the recent RGT harm minimisation conference, government and industry should never feel that there is an end point to social responsibility. Industry owes a duty of care to its customers.