NHS Stops taking Gambling Funds To Treat Addiction

19 February 2022

The NHS will stop taking cash from the gaming market to treat people with dependency, the NHS England nationwide psychological health director has actually said.

Writing to charity GambleAware, Claire Murdoch said the NHS would rather money its own gambling services from 1 April.

The gaming industry paid ₤ 16m to GambleAware between April and December to help fund treatment services.

Of this promotion code, ₤ 1.2 m was awarded in grants to NHS-run gaming clinics.

But Ms Murdoch said clients were uncomfortable about using services paid for by the gaming market - and she stated that had "heavily affected" her decision to reject future funding from GambleAware.

She said industry funding "has actually allowed us to roll out treatment services quicker than would have otherwise been possible", however there was a desire to move the financing into basic NHS financing.

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

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

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

Ms Murdoch said the NHS would continue to work closely with GambleAware to develop a treatment system that is "suitable for function".

In 2015, the overall voluntary promises to GambleAware consisted of ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and simply over ₤ 4m from Bet365.

In addition to the NHS treatment centres, that cash is used to fund the 24-hour National Gambling Helpline.

the yohaig code NHS is facing increasing need to help issue gamblers.

Two brand-new betting dependency clinics will open in Southampton and Stoke from May, bringing the variety of professional clinics in England to 7.

According to NHS England, in between April and December in 2015, 668 individuals with the most serious gambling dependency concerns were referred to NHS specialist centers.

That is a 16.2% boost from 575 throughout the exact same duration in 2020.

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

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

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