To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the (a) risk to personal data and (b) implications for privacy of the establishment of a national register of gamblers.
Answered on
2 November 2021
In October 2019, the Gambling Commission issued a challenge to the gambling industry to develop a workable ‘Single Customer View’ solution. The Single Customer View aims to facilitate data sharing between operators so that harm prevention efforts can be improved by measures which prevent disordered gamblers moving to another operator when one intervenes. As set out in its statement of 7 October, the Commission has no plans to mandate a particular single customer view solution at this stage. The next step is for industry to develop and test potential options.
The Gambling Commission has worked closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office to understand how a single customer view can be delivered in compliance with all relevant data protection requirements. The Information Commissioner’s Office recently published a report confirming it should be possible under data protection law for data to be shared safely and securely between online operators to help prevent gambling related harm. However, the report does not comment on how any single customer view should work in practice. We expect the industry to proceed to trial its planned single customer view solution and will continue to monitor developments closely.
The government is reviewing the Gambling Act 2005 to make sure it is fit for the digital age. Our call for evidence included questions on how the consumer data collected by operators could be better deployed and used to support the government’s objectives. We are considering the evidence carefully and aim to publish a white paper outlining any conclusions and proposals for reform in due course.