GambleAware wants UK statutory levy changes

UK charity GambleAware has called for material changes to the proposed statutory levy for gambling harm prevention, to ensure its “transformational potential” can be realised.

CEO Zoë Osmond said the charity wants a National Strategy for the Prevention and Treatment of Gambling Harms – which is not in the proposals – to be developed.

She said it will “not be possible to transform the capacity and capability and develop an integrated system of prevention and treatment” without one.

The GambleAware chief also said that “at a minimum” there should be an “equal focus” on prevention and treatment, claiming that shifting spend upstream to focus on prevention and early intervention is “at the heart of a public health approach.”

Osmond said the current funding allocations “do not adequately reflect the potential population-level benefits” of such an approach.

“In order to have a meaningful impact on gambling harm at a population level across Great Britain, prevention must be reprioritised with additional funding,” she said.

The statutory levy, which forms part of the UK government’s white paper on gambling reform, proposes online gambling operators would pay one per cent of their gross gambling yield to research, education and prevention.

Betting shops and casinos would pay 0.4 per cent of their GGY, with the NHS the main commissioner of the received funding.

Osmond said GambleAware agrees that a public health approach is “the most effective and cost-efficient way of addressing societal issues like gambling harms.”

GambleAware wants statutory levy changes

However, she said: “Our preference would be to have a single Prevention and Treatment Commissioner to ensure increased awareness of the issue and equal accessibility of services across England, Scotland and Wales. In the absence of this, it is essential that the Treatment and Prevention Commissioners work closely together within an agreed strategic and governance framework, to ensure the system is working as effectively as possible.

“Retention of the third sector’s expertise and in prevention and treatment be essential to reduce the strain on NHS services.”

She added: “We will ensure that GambleAware’s strategic commissioning skills, experience, capacity and capability support the foundation of the new prevention commissioning body.

“We are committed to working collaboratively with partners across the Government, third sector, local authorities, the NHS and counterparts in Scotland and Wales during the transition period and in the longer term to ensure the new system works as effectively as possibly.”

GambleAware has recommended the co-commissioning of Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions including the charity’s helpline. It also wants national public awareness campaigns and digital early interventions to be included within the remit of the Prevention Commissioner.

“As well as the third sector, there a range of other key stakeholders from primary care, the health and social care sector, local authorities, the criminal justice system, and, most importantly, people with lived experience of gambling harm. Their expertise must be sought, and their voices heard,” Osmond said.

“We hope these issues will be addressed so that the transformational potential of the levy can be realised, and we can truly secure a society free from gambling harms.”

Read more: BGC backs statutory levy