A heated exchange in this week’s Westminster Hall debate on gambling advertising will have raised alarm bells over UK MPs’ understanding of the intricacies and nuances of the gambling industry.
Alex Ballinger, Labour MP and Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gambling Reform (GRAPPG), had the legitimacy of his use of statistics related to gambling advertising scrutinised by Tory MP Esther McVey.
McVey, the wife of the former Tory MP and ex-Star Sports Chairman Philip Davies, questioned if Ballinger, who has led calls for harsher restrictions on gambling advertising, was written to by the Gambling Commission over his use of their statistics.
Ballinger denied that this was the case repeatedly, instead claiming that any challenge to the figures has come from “members of the gambling industry’. However, the UKGC’s Log of Requested Corrections shows that Ballinger was written to about the misuse of statistics on three occasions.
In each case, the UKGC’s contentions related to an “incorrect reference to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) as a measure of addiction”.
Following a debate held on 5 February 2025, the UKGC also wrote to Ballinger and fellow MP Jim Shannon due to them “scaling up problem gambling data to population numbers”.
Dr Beccy Cooper MP, who is the Vice Chair of the GRAPPG and spoke during the debate, has also twice been contacted by the UKGC over the “misuse of statistics” and scaling problem gambling data to population numbers.
Cooper defended herself by claiming that she had replied to the UKGC with evidence as to why the statistics are the “best evidence that we have”.
McVey expressed concerns that these contentions from the UKGC call into question the validity of the data cited by the likes of Ballinger and Cooper in Parliament.
It is important to point out that Ballinger may be unaware of the communications from the UKGC. However, misleading parliament can lead to reprimands from the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.
The GRAPPG’s latest report argues that advertising reform has not gone far enough in the UK, and young children, especially, are being exposed to gambling at harmful levels. The report cites data from the UKGC that 79% of children have seen gambling adverts.
Ballinger repeatedly used the figure of £2bn to underline the level of spend on advertising by operators in the UK. This figure aligns with research from the marketing intelligence firm WARC, which projects £1.9bn will be spent by the industry by October 2026 across both the licensed and unregulated sectors.
Ballinger did not distinguish between the two during the debate, as he said that the money was being used in a “deliberate and sustained effort to drive engagement, normalise gambling and grow the market, including by creating future generations of gamblers”.
Ballinger also dismissed claims made by the 2023 Gambling White Paper that there is no causal link between gambling advertising and problem gambling, which was noted by Charlie Dewhirst MP.
“I will not accept that,” he said. “Having met lots of people with lived experience of gambling and having seen the evidence in our report, I know there is a clear link between gambling advertising and halting the recovery of people with gambling addictions.”
Problem gambling levels do not relate directly to the speed of recovery of problem gamblers, however. Not to mention that Ballinger’s assertions appear to be led largely by anecdotal evidence.
Although concerns over the extent of gambling advertising are understandable, these exchanges highlight why concerns remain from stakeholders over the intentions of policymakers and their understanding of the industry.
Alongside the two MPs mentioned, MPs from the DUP, Liberal Democrats and Green Party have received notifications of misuse from the UKGC.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), the new prevention commissioner, has also received notifications.
Writing in his newsletter, Dan Waugh of Regulus Partners noted that if Ballinger is unaware of the notifications, this suggests that the UKGC has not followed up on their communications.
This should spark worry throughout the industry that the main body tasked with working with the government to lead regulatory changes has not made it a priority to adequately address concerns over the statistics used in debates on the future of gambling in the UK.
