UK Gambling Commission Pledges £32.8m to Support GambleAware

The UK Gambling Commission has pledged a generous £32.8 million to GambleAware, the most prominent gambling harm prevention charity in the UK. These funds are meant to facilitate the 1% statutory levy that would now replace voluntary funding of activities and programs that help reduce gambling harms across the United Kingdom.

During the transition period, a ‘system stabilization fund’ will be created, which will go towards supporting the charity’s services during the changeover. These monies are being acquired through regulatory settlements to jump-start the incoming shift to mandatory contributions.

Thus, the funding will reinforce GambleAware’s efforts to provide much-needed support, treatment, and education to individuals and families affected by gambling-related issues through research initiatives which are a priority to UKGC’s mission. GambleAware will also help the Commission to address some of the inequalities in the current voluntary funding model.

Statutory Levy: Most Debated Proposal in Gambling White Paper

The proposal to change from a voluntary funding model to a fixed levy was put forward in the White Paper review of the 2005 Gambling Act, published in April 2023. This statutory levy was a concept brought forward by GambleAware during the white paper’s inception. So far, several consultative dialogues have discussed the possible switch from voluntary contributions.

In its initial recommendations, GambleAware cited the ‘growing cost-of-living crisis, ongoing financial impact of the pandemic, and shift to online gambling’ as catalysts for an imminent increase in the risk to persons with problem gambling tendencies. The charity organization published six principles outlining guidelines that would see gambling harms prevented, amongst them the need for ‘supporting those most at risk by reducing inequalities.’ And the 1% mandatory levy would be collected from the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY).

According to the 2019-2020 fiscal report, the revenue raised from this changeover should amount to approximately £140 million annually. In June 2023, National Clinical Advisor on Gambling Harms for NHS England, Prof. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, lauded the proposed funding model, saying:

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“The Statutory Levy agreed in the recent Gambling White Paper has the potential to finally ensure the independence of funding for treatment and research, as well as for prevention initiatives to address gambling harms.”

Prof. Bowden had suggested that the levy be implemented as soon as possible to avoid delaying the establishment of ‘fully integrated treatment pathways.’ She also assured the public that NHS was committed to carrying on with delivering the best care to all patients alongside GambleAware, as the two partners awaited the distribution of the levy.

Current Voluntary Funding Arrangement Not Progressive

The voluntary funding model urges gambling operators to donate at least 0.1% of their Gross Gaming Yield (GGY) towards gambling harm research, education, and treatment initiatives. This means operators that bring in less than £250,000 can contribute no less than £250. As such, a mandatory levy will undoubtedly increase the volume of funds donated toward such programs.

When it came up in consultations on the White Paper, the topic sparked some House debates, most recently in June, where bereaved families of persons who had died due to gambling-related harms were present. Proponents of the statutory levy labeled the current model ‘inadequate’ and hence, called for introducing the new statutory levy that will be a compulsory remission by all operators to the Gambling Commission.

The debate kicked off with Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris pointing out the government’s plans to implement some changes as part of the reform strategy outlined in the white paper. These included the plans to introduce online stakes limits and start an affordability scheme to prevent people from going overboard with their finances when gambling.

She also emphasized the fact that voluntary funding gave too much leeway to operators, and the donations are often left to the discretion of the contributors. This model unintentionally leads to uncertainty in how ongoing projects will be funded. Harris continued:

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“To make things worse, operators are able to determine who their contribution goes to, meaning that the voluntary system allows the gambling industry to retain a sense of control over the funding. That damages the independence of the service providers, academic institutions, and other third-party recipients of funding, as well as the effectiveness of the levy in reducing wider gambling harms in the UK.”

GambleAware CEO Zoë Osmond has expressed the organization’s excitement in getting started with the levy. She pointed out they were looking forward to introducing the statutory levy as had been outlined in the white paper and that this ‘will help provide stable funding.’ She also explained:

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“We hope that changes will be made swiftly, as any significant delay in moving to the statutory levy risks slowing down the pace at which we have been, and plan to continue, transforming prevention and treatment services as outlined in our five-year organizational strategy.”

Of course, another main objective of allocating the funds from UKGC is meant to be channeled towards GambleAware’s ongoing efforts in tackling gambling harm.

The Gambling White Paper is Gradually Bearing Fruits

UK’s long-awaited gambling white paper was finally published in April 2023. Right after, observers and stakeholders in the UK gambling industry have been on the lookout as the relevant actors roll out the implementation of updated rules and regulations ‘fit for the smartphone age.’

The issue of whether the levy would tackle the gambling black market industry has also come up. Some opposers to the mandatory levy are already suggesting that it would push operators and people in general to the dark side, as it were.

This has been drawn from reports such as ‘The State of Illegal Betting’ published by the Asian Racing Federation, which reported that 61% of online gambling is either unregulated or on the black market. Nonetheless, the argument has since been refuted by supporters of the statutory levy, who have cited reports by the UKGC indicating that data on the scale of the black market has been exaggerated.