Reformists call for statutory inquiry into GambleAware as CEO slams “baseless” accusations

A complaint has been filed with the Charity Commission against leading independent charity GambleAware, in which two gambling reformists have called for a statutory inquiry into its operations.

The letter, filed by the Good Law Project on behalf of PhD student Annie Ashton and leader of the Coalition Against Gambling Ads Will Prochaska, claims GambleAware’s ties to the industry has left the organisation “too one-sided to be properly charitable”.

The 20-page letter, which was sent to the Charity Commission on 1 March, alleges that GambleAware is “failing to comply with [its] duties to advance … the provision of education about, and the prevention of, gambling harms”.

In that regard, the pair have suggested that GambleAware’s messaging and outreach programmes centred around betting more responsibly are shortcomings, and that the group’s is not to informing people of the option to stop gambling entirely

The Good Law Project’s letter suggests that GambleAware’s relationship with the industry, from which it derives the majority of its funding, has resulted in the charity’s activities being based on “an acceptance of the industry’s framing of gambling”.

GambleAware is funded by a statutory levy from operators, which is expected to rise to 1% from its 0.1% level.

In July 2023, the Gambling Commission committed £32.8m in regulatory settlements to the charity to create a stabilisation fund ahead of any transitionary period.

Ashton, who lost her partner to suicide following a gambling addiction, and former Gambling with Lives head Prochaska have asked the Charity Commission to weigh in on the matter.

The letter reads: “Any suggestion by GambleAware that, in the current landscape, it is simply not realistic to suggest that people stop gambling altogether rings hollow, given that (a) the current landscape is not natural or inevitable – it has been sculpted by the gambling operations, largely without criticism from GambleAware, and (b) they have never meaningfully tried.

“GambleAware could, for example, promote a campaign seeking to make gamblers aware of the ways operators are manipulating them, thus empowering gamblers to interrogate the context in which their choices around gambling are made; they could also campaign for better regulation of operators.

“Instead they promote campaigns that position people being harmed as the architects of the own downfall – despite the evidence that doing so only helps the industry, at the expense of GambleAware’s beneficiaries.”

The letter includes previous research from academics and third parties which Ashton and Prochaska claim support their case.

The document also includes a subheading titled ‘GambleAware’s inability to fulfil its charitable objects due to its lack of independence’, which includes 15 bullet points across research, treatment and education.

The letter’s conclusion reads: “It is of course for the [Charity] Commission to decide what, if any, action to take. Our clients consider that the conclusions of the recent parliamentary inquiries, in particular, indicate that GambleAware’s ability to advance its objects is now inhibited to such a degree that a statutory inquiry would be justified.

“They also consider that a failure to instigate one – given the high-profile, comprehensive nature of the criticisms of GambleAware – risks seriously damaging the public’s faith in the status of charities and charitable regulation.”

In a comment provided to EGR, GambleAware CEO Zoë Osmond said the allegations made were “baseless and highly damaging”.

She said: “As the leading charity working to keep people safe from gambling harm in Great Britain, we strongly refute the allegations made in this letter, which are both baseless and highly damaging.

“Our public health campaigns, created in collaboration with people who have experienced gambling harm, break down barriers for support and shine a light on the fact gambling harm can affect anyone.

“The treatment and support we commission, which includes the National Gambling Support Network and National Gambling Helpline, represent one of the few lines of defence available to the millions impacted by gambling harms each year.

“We are robustly independent from the gambling industry, having long called for further regulation on gambling advertising and for the implementation of a statutory funding system to hold the gambling industry to account,” she added.