19 February 2022

The NHS will stop taking money from the gambling industry to deal with people with dependency, the NHS England national psychological health director has stated.

Writing to charity GambleAware, Claire Murdoch said the NHS would instead fund its own gaming services from 1 April.

The gambling market paid ₤ 16m to GambleAware in between April and December to assist fund treatment services.

Of this, ₤ 1.2 m was awarded in grants to NHS-run gambling centers.

But Ms Murdoch stated patients were uncomfortable about utilizing services paid for by the gaming industry - and she stated that had actually "greatly influenced" her decision to turn down future financing from GambleAware.

She stated market funding "has permitted us to roll out treatment services much faster than would have otherwise been possible", however there was a desire to move the financing into general NHS funding.

"Additionally, our clinicians feel there are conflicts of interest in their centers being part-funded by resources from the betting market," Ms Murdoch wrote.

It comes less than a year after Ms Murdoch told the Guardian, external that gambling firms need to be struck with an obligatory levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had actually been left to "choose up the pieces".

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In her latest letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not address the "damages" brought by betting alone, and neither is it the NHS's "job" to do so.

Ms Murdoch stated the NHS would continue to work closely with GambleAware to establish a treatment system that is "suitable for purpose".

Last year, the yohaig code overall voluntary pledges to GambleAware consisted of ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and just over ₤ 4m from Bet365.

Along with the NHS treatment centres, that cash is used to money the 24-hour National Gambling Helpline.

The NHS is facing increasing demand to assist problem bettors.

Two brand-new betting addiction clinics will open in Southampton and Stoke from May, bringing the number of expert clinics in England to 7.

According to NHS England, in between April and December in 2015, 668 people with the most severe gaming dependency issues were described NHS expert clinics.

That is a 16.2% increase from 575 throughout the same period in 2020.

The gambling market makes earnings of more than ₤ 14bn a year in the UK.

A representative for the Betting and Gaming Council said the wagering industry has been a "majority funder" of research, education and treatment for betting harm for more than 20 years.

It is estimated that around 246,000 people - about 0.5% of the UK adult population - are most likely to have some type of betting dependency, with 2.2 million at risk.

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