19 February 2022

The NHS will stop taking money from the gaming industry to deal with individuals with dependency, the NHS England nationwide psychological health director has said.

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

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

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

But Ms Murdoch said patients were uncomfortable about using services paid for by the gambling market - and she stated that had actually "heavily influenced" her choice to decline future financing from GambleAware.

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

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

It comes less than a year after Ms Murdoch told the Guardian, external that betting companies must be hit with a mandatory levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had been left to "get the pieces".

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In her newest letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not deal with the "damages" brought by betting alone, and neither is it the NHS's "task" 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".

Last year, the general voluntary promises to GambleAware included ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and simply 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 rising need to help issue bettors.

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

According to NHS England, between April and December last year, 668 individuals with the most extreme gaming addiction issues were referred to NHS expert centers.

That is a 16.2% boost from 575 during the very same period in 2020.

The betting 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 "bulk funder" of research, education and treatment for gambling damage for more than twenty years.

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

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