Professor David Forrest has spoken to BBC’s The One Show this week about the impact new legislation could have on the funding and survival of gambling clinics in England, Scotland and Wales.
Coinciding with the start of Addiction Awareness Week, Sarah Green has reached out to gambling expert, Professor David Forrest, to find out more about how the upcoming changes introduced in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s white paper in April 2023 will impact support services for those with a gambling problem.
One of the key proposals was to replace voluntary donations from gambling operators with a statutory levy to guarantee increased, independent and long-term funding for research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harms (RPT).
In practice, the money will no longer be managed and distributed by the charity GambleAware, as the Gambling Commission will be responsible for collecting and administering the levy from all operating license holders.
In addition, the NHS will become a key player - following a previous refusal to accept voluntary donations from gambling businesses due to ethical concerns - leading the commissioning of treatment services, integrating gambling disorder treatment into the healthcare system.
“It was required of every operator in Britain to hand over donations every year for research, education and treatment”, said David.
“GambleAware will close down and it now becomes a function of government to take this money and provide a way of distributing it.
“The NHS will have control of half of the total amount of money raised.”
However, patients have been relying on services provided by small local charities dedicated to reducing gambling harms and financially supported by gambling companies’ donations, which were distributed by GambleAware.
With funding being reviewed, there’s increasing concern over the sustainability of these organisations.
“Charities fear if the money becomes scarcer in the future, gambling clinics, which have been the traditional providers, will start to feel a big squeeze."
As stated in its Long Term Plan, the NHS is currently expanding a network of specialist gambling clinics to meet increasing demand and is working with third sector providers to design and deliver a world-leading approach to treatment of gambling-related harms across Britain.
However, the final plans will determine the survival of traditional providers and the continuity of services for current users.