Department for Culture, Media and Sport written question – answered at on 11 November 2025.
Andrew Rosindell
Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs)
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of gaming machines to the level of pubs’ supplementary income.
Ian Murray
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the contribution of pubs to the nighttime economy in the UK, as well as the commercial pressures they face.
Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission do not hold official statistics on the contribution of gaming machines to the level of pubs’ supplementary income, we recognise that gaming machines are an important source of revenue to many pubs across the country.
Trade associations representing the pub sector, including the British Beer and Pub Association, UK Hospitality and the British Institute of Innkeeping, recently emphasised the importance of gaming machines in pubs, estimating that 48% of pubs have at least one gaming machine, with the total income from these machines equating to £622m per year.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
