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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other industry stakeholders, from affiliates to health experts, have praised his government's plans to generate £100m to prevent and tackle gambling harm, as GambleAware calls for the quick appointment of a prevention commission.
The Prime Minister stated: “We promised we would reform gambling regulation and strengthen its protections. We have.” in a social media post on November 27.
Starmer’s office also posted that “gambling addiction ruins lives. It's only right that those who are profiting from gambling are helping to tackle its addiction. We’re making sure that those at risk have access to the support they need.”
The government also confirmed on Wednesday (November 27) online slot stake limits of £5 for over-25s and £2 for young adults aged 18 to 24.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, and Siân Griffiths, a public health expert and chair of GambleAware Trustees, similarly welcomed the plans, calling the levy and the introduction of lower online stake limits a “significant step towards protecting people from gambling harm”.
However, the charity is concerned by the lack of an appointed prevention commission, which it says “could adversely impact the continuity of services”.
The government consultation plan proposed an individual commissioner for research, prevention and treatment, each in charge of their funds and a share of the levy.
“Clarity on this role is urgently needed to prevent system degradation as we know that prevention is at the core of tackling gambling-related harms and needs to be integrated with the treatment offered. This includes impactful public health campaigns, self-help tools, and education programmes which we know are essential to addressing this serious public health issue,” GambleAware said in its response published on November 27.
GambleAware is committed to supporting the new system, which it hopes will build on the work of the National Gambling Support Network and “strategic commissioning and campaigning expertise that already exists”.
Henrietta Bowden-Jones, the vice president of the Royal Society of Medicine and an advisor on gambling harms, welcomed the levy, calling it “the start of a new era”, as did numerous other health experts on social media.
Jamie Walters, CEO of London-based affiliate QiH Group, similarly welcomed the news, but does not believe it will have much of an impact and should be viewed by the industry as a “positive change”.
“While levies and taxes can sometimes be viewed as a burden, the truth is that most responsible gambling companies have already been making this contribution to research and harm prevention as they see it as sensible and worthwhile. All that is happening now is a switch from voluntary to mandatory, and the rate is not punitively high,” Walters said.
