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  3. ABSG Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms - Year 3

Report

ABSG Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms - Year 3

ABSG - Year three Progress Report on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms

Published
12 May 2022

Last updated
26 April 2023 - Changes

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Contents

Recommendations

As the work to reduce harms expands and diversifies, oversight of all the activities to deliver the National Strategy cannot continue to be led by the Commission in the same way. It will have an ongoing role influencing and collaborating with other government agencies, local authorities and the third sector, but will turn towards investing a greater part of its resources in core regulatory activity.

We recommend that the Commission should continue to take a lead role in prevention and education work focusing on the gambling industry and collaborate with other government departments and regulators such as ASA, Committee of Advertising Practice, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Department for Education (DfE) and the OHID, Public Health Scotland and Public Health Wales. The Commission should also continue to collaborate with the third sector and Local Authorities on the wider prevention work that is necessary to keep consumers informed and safe.

The Commission’s new focus on enforcement and data driven regulation (opens in a new tab) will lead to greater demands on operators to comply on safety standards and embed safer gambling practises into on-the-ground business cultures and new technologies. All of these actions will be set within the UK Government’s move towards more agile regulatory regimes (opens in a new tab) where more power is delegated to regulatory bodies to achieve better outcomes for the public.

We recommend that by 2023 treatment and support activity should be overseen by other government departments – Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), NHS England, Population Health Directorate, Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, Welsh Government, Public Health Wales, working in partnership with local authority and third sector organisations.

Funding for treatment, prevention and research should no longer rely on voluntary donations. ABSG previously recommended a statutory levy set at 1%. Regulatory Settlements have been a vital source of funding for activity linked to the National Strategy. Clarity on how funds will continue to be made available for innovation and evaluation is essential to sustained progress.

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Recommendations on regulation
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