UK Shifts to Government-Led Approach to Tackle Gambling Issues

The UK Government has announced the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) as the new Prevention Commissioner for Gambling Harms.

This signals a move to a more structured, government-led approach to addressing the issues associated with gambling.

GambleAware, an independent charity, and its CEO Zoë Osmond OBE and Chair of Trustees Prof. Siân Griffiths CBE welcomed the announcement. They highlighted the importance of a government-led initiative to tackle gambling-related harm, which they consider a public health issue.

The charity has been a staunch advocate for a statutory framework and expressed enthusiasm for collaborating with the OHID to ensure a smooth transition into the new system.

Elsewhere in the industry, a spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) commented: “The BGC supported plans outlined in the White Paper to introduce a mandatory levy to fund Research, Prevention, and Treatment, as long as it was independent, protects longstanding, expert providers of RPT in the third sector and is tiered to protect land-based operators. 

“Given OHID’s previous flawed report on gambling in 2023, it is essential the Levy Board has strict oversight of OHID and these significant funds, including enforcing a clear set of protocols to ensure transparency, a program of evaluation plus a regime of external auditing.” 

The spokesperson highlighted the monetary contributions BGC members and licensed operators have made over the last four years to help fund a network of charities. 

They also added that the most recent NHS Health Survey for England estimated just 0.4% of the adult population are problem gamblers. Emphasizing ministers within the new setup must not lose sight of that fact, and the 22.5 million people who place a bet each month enjoy gambling safely.

The safety measures for gamblers echo that we are seeing being implemented in the US. Last year, a self-exclusion program was launched and will now be expanded. Meanwhile, there have been crackdowns on advertsiing opertaing in gray areas which appear to target problem gamblers.