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19 February 2022

The NHS will stop taking money from the betting market to deal with individuals with dependency, the NHS England national psychological health director has actually stated.

Writing to charity GambleAware, Claire Murdoch said the NHS would instead fund its own gaming services from 1 April.

The gaming market paid ₤ 16m to GambleAware in between April and December to help fund treatment services.

Of this promotion code, ₤ 1.2 m was granted in grants to NHS-run betting centers.

But Ms Murdoch said patients were uneasy about utilizing services paid for by the gambling industry - and she said that had "heavily influenced" her choice to turn down future financing from GambleAware.

She stated market funding "has actually enabled us to roll out treatment services quicker than would have otherwise been possible", however there was a desire to move the financing into basic NHS financing.

"Additionally, our clinicians feel there are conflicts of interest in their clinics being part-funded by resources from the betting industry," Ms Murdoch composed.

It comes less than a year after Ms Murdoch informed the Guardian, external that betting firms should be struck with an obligatory levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had actually been delegated "select up the pieces".

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In her newest letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not deal with the "harms" brought by betting alone, and neither is it the NHS's "task" to do so.

Ms Murdoch said the NHS would continue to work closely with GambleAware to develop a treatment system that is "suitable for purpose".

In 2015, the total 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 utilized to money the 24-hour National Gambling Helpline.

The NHS is facing increasing demand to help problem bettors.

Two new betting addiction centers will open in Southampton and Stoke from May, bringing the number of expert clinics in England to 7.

According to NHS England, in between April and December last year, 668 individuals with the most serious gambling addiction issues were referred to NHS expert centers.

That is a 16.2% increase from 575 throughout the very same period in 2020.

The gambling market makes earnings of more than ₤ 14bn a year in the UK.

A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council stated the betting market has actually been a "majority funder" of research study, education and treatment for gambling damage for more than twenty years.

It is approximated that around 246,000 individuals - about 0.5% of the UK adult population - are most likely to have some kind of gambling addiction, with 2.2 million at threat.

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