Gambling Commission commits £32.8m of regulatory settlements to GambleAware
UK regulator commits sum to charity to aid the creation of a “system stabilisation fund” to support services during levy transition period
The Gambling Commission (GC) has committed £32.8m of regulatory settlements to the charity GambleAware to allow it to create a “system stabilisation fund”.
This fund will help the charity continue its work during the transition period from voluntary funding to a statutory levy, which was one of the key points proposed in the white paper into the Gambling Act 2005 review published at the end of April.
Currently, operators are asked to donate a minimum of 0.1% of their gross gambling yield (GGY) to GambleAware each year. The introduction of a statutory levy would make this process mandatory for all licence holders.
As it stands, operators with an annual GGY of less than £250,000 are requested to donate £250.
The system stabilisation fund is also to be used to reduce inequalities in gambling harm treatment and equalise “outcomes, experience and access”.
As part of allocating these settlement funds to the charity, the GC has named three priority areas for research. The first is to build an evidence base for gambling harms, the second is for system research to inform how funds or services are provided, and the third is for evidence translation and dissemination.
The regulator said that details of how the funding committed to the charity is used will be outlined in a series of annual reports.
GambleAware has previously voiced its support of a statutory levy, with CEO Zoë Osmond saying that the levy will provide “certainty and stability” for research, education and treatment funding (RET) funding going forward.
Likewise, the Betting and Gaming Council stated it would be in favour of the introduction of a statutory levy, but did add the caveat that it should be tiered to protect land-based operators.
The GC and the UK government recently opened consultations with operators and other industry stakeholders on a number of proposals outlined in the white paper.