IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Money and Mental Health comment on announcement OHID will oversee the commissioning of prevention funding for the upcoming statutory levy on gambling operators

12 February 2025

Late last year, the government announced measures compelling gambling operators to pay a percentage of their gross gambling yield (the money they make from people gambling) to support prevention, treatment and research estimating this could raise over £100 million a year. 30% of this funding was ring-fenced to prevent gambling harm.

Today, the government has announced that the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities (OHID) will oversee the commissioning of prevention funding for the upcoming statutory levy on gambling operators.

This new funding and commissioning model will ensure that money is sourced independently from the gambling industry to support efforts to reduce gambling-related harm and provides longer term financial certainty to support organisations that work to address gambling harms.

Nikki Bond, Head of the Gambling Harms Action Lab at the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, said: “We welcome the news that the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities will commission prevention funding for gambling-related harms under the statutory levy on gambling operators. A ring-fenced funding arrangement that provides consistent funding for this work is long overdue and should allow for better outcomes in the prevention of gambling harms.

“The government’s announcement speaks to the need to build capacity for frontline services to understand and deliver harm reduction activities. Here, at the Gambling Harms Action Lab, we believe that banks are one of those sectors with a role to play in preventing gambling harms.

“Over the next 18 months, we’ll work with current account providers to identify gambling-related harm at an earlier point and develop better and more effective pathways for people to access support before harm escalates.”

ENDS

Contact:

To set up an interview or for any other media enquiries, please contact Jason Heffron at Money and Mental Health, on 07432 643646 or [email protected].

Notes to Editors

• The Gambling Harms Action Lab is a three year programme funded through regulatory settlement by the UK Gambling Commission. When the Gambling Commission takes regulatory action against a gambling operator, one of the outcomes of that action can be a payment in lieu of the financial penalty the Commission might otherwise impose for breach of a licence condition. The Gambling Commission regularly reviews proposals for destinations of regulatory settlements and awarded funding for the Gambling Harms Action Lab project in October 2023.
  When reporting on gambling related harm prevalence figures, media should refer to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain guidance issued by the Gambling Commission.
• The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute was set up by Martin Lewis in spring 2016, registered charity number 1166493.
• It conducts research and develops policies for essential services firms, regulators, the health service and government to help people with mental health problems protect themselves from financial difficulties and get out of debt.
• Martin Lewis OBE, Money Saving Expert, is an award-winning campaigning broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author. He founded MoneySavingExpert.com in 2003 for £100 and remains its full-time Editor-in-Chief. It is now the UK’s biggest money site, with more than 14 million monthly users. Martin has his own prime-time ITV programme – The Martin Lewis Money Show – and is resident expert on This Morning, Good Morning Britain and BBC Radio 5 Live’s Consumer Panel, among others.
• Helen Undy is a passionate mental health campaigner and became the Institute’s Director in 2018, having previously led the Institute’s impact and communications work.