As part of its NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has made a commitment to invest in clinics to help more people with serious gambling problems. NHS England published its Long Term Plan Implementation Framework on 5 July 2019. The projected funding for gambling clinics was not separately identified and will be provided at a later date.

The first National Health Service gambling clinic for children will open this year as part of a new network of services for addicts being rolled out. Up to 15 new NHS clinics will be opened over the five years, starting with the NHS Northern Gambling Service in Leeds and two satellite sites in Manchester and Sunderland.

GambleAware has indicated that it plans to provide over £1 million annually to the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust to fund the NHS Northern Gambling Clinic in Leeds, and £382,000 to the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London in 2019/20.

Requirements around player protection are set out in the National Lottery operating licence, overseen and regulated by the Gambling Commission.

Under the terms of the licence, Camelot are required to produce and implement an underage and excessive play strategy, which I attach. This is available at: https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/responsible-play/consumer-protection-strategy. This is reviewed and approved annually. The Gambling Commission also regularly monitors and engages with Camelot on the measures that it has in place and its progress on its plans to improve them.

Additionally, the Gambling Commission makes periodic assessments of Camelot’s performance on player protection and its recent business plan states that it intends this year to assess the effectiveness of the current and future protections in place for National Lottery players.

GambleAware commissions treatment services for gambling related harm. This includes GamCare, which provides a helpline and private counselling for anyone affected by problem gambling. GamCare’s helpline and website are advertised on scratchcards, draw tickets and the National Lottery website and in 2017 Camelot increased its contribution to GambleAware from £190,000 to £300,000 per year.

We considered research, education and treatment as part of our Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility. The response was published on 17 May. The review looked at protections across the gambling industry and support for those who experience harm, including the arrangements for funding.

The Gambling Commission requires all operators licensed under the Gambling Act 2005 to make a contribution towards the research, prevention and treatment of gambling-related harm. It does not specify how much this should be, nor which organisations should be supported, but most operators fulfil this obligation by making a contribution to GambleAware, which currently asks operators to donate 0.1% of their Gross Gambling Yield (GGY). GambleAware received £9.4m in the year 2017/18. Industry also made donations to other bodies supporting research, education and treatment, bringing collective contributions to above 0.1% of its GGY.

The government does not hold information on how much each operator donates. The Gambling Commission has committed to do more to enhance the visibility and transparency of details of industry contributions, either by operator or sector. In addition, GambleAware has announced that it plans to publish details of operator contributions on its website on a quarterly basis, and will ask operators to voluntarily self-certify whether these donations amount to at least 0.1% of GGY.