19 February 2022
The NHS will stop taking cash from the gaming industry to deal with individuals 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 betting services from 1 April.
The gambling industry paid ₤ 16m to GambleAware in between April and December to assist fund treatment services.
Of this promotion code, ₤ 1.2 m was granted in grants to NHS-run betting clinics.
But Ms Murdoch stated clients were uncomfortable about using services spent for by the yohaig code betting market - and she said that had "heavily affected" her decision to turn down future funding from GambleAware.
She stated industry funding "has actually enabled us to roll out treatment services much faster than would have otherwise been possible", however 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 gambling market," Ms Murdoch composed.
It comes less than a year after Ms Murdoch told the Guardian, external that betting companies ought to be struck with an obligatory levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had been left to "choose up the pieces".
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In her latest letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not attend to the "harms" brought by betting alone, and neither is it the NHS's "task" to do so.
Ms Murdoch stated the NHS would continue to work carefully with GambleAware to develop a treatment system that is "suitable for function".
In 2015, the general voluntary pledges to GambleAware included ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and just over ₤ 4m from Bet365.
In addition to the NHS treatment centres, that cash is used to fund the 24-hour National Gambling Helpline.
The NHS is facing rising demand to help issue bettors.
Two new gaming addiction centers will open in Southampton and Stoke from May, bringing the number of specialist centers in England to 7.
According to NHS England, in between April and December in 2015, 668 individuals with the most severe gambling dependency problems were described NHS specialist centers.
That is a 16.2% boost from 575 during the same period in 2020.
The betting industry makes revenues of more than ₤ 14bn a year in the yohaig code UK.
A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council stated the wagering market has actually been a "bulk funder" of research, education and treatment for gambling 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 type of gambling dependency, with 2.2 million at threat.
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