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Written question asked by Carolyn Harris (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 December 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 December 2020. It was answered by Nigel Huddleston (Conservative) on Wednesday, 16 December 2020 on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Gambling: Cryptocurrencies

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether gambling using cryptocurrency is legal; and whether UK bookmakers are permitted to offer this service.

Answer

Cryptoassets are not illegal, but licensed gambling operators are only permitted to accept them as a payment method where they are able to ensure they are compliant with all Gambling Commission licence conditions and requirements, including anti-money laundering and safer gambling measures.

Operators are required to declare any changes to the arrangements through which they accept payment from customers to the Commission. This includes changes to the payment methods (including cryptoassets) or payment processors made available to customers to pay for gambling services. To date, no licensed operators have notified the Gambling Commission that they are accepting digital currencies or cryptoassets directly as payments but several have reported indirectly accepting funds derived from cryptoassets via a third party payment provider. In these cases, funds accepted by the licensee for gambling have been converted to fiat currency (£).

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
126918
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Gambling Cryptocurrencies
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk