UK reveals recipients of first Gambling Levy VCSE funding
The OHID has named the recipients of £25.4m in Gambling Levy funding.
UK.- The UK government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has released its first roster of organisations to be financed under the new Gambling Harms Prevention VCSE Fund. The listed entities will receive funding from the mandatory UK Gambling Levy, which came into force a year ago.
Under the new levy system, the OHID has taken over the task of commissioning gambling harm-prevention services, replacing the now defunct GambleAware, which distributed funds collected under the previous voluntary system.
The OHID has provisionally allocated £25.4m to cover 33 organisations for the period from 2026 to 2028. The recipients include charities, educational trusts, advice agencies and community groups.
Among the organisations awarded the largest assignations, GamCare, which runs 24/7 National Gambling Helpline, will receive £4.04m and the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), which does a lot of work with schools and youth groups, will get £3m.
Betknowmore has been awarded £2.99m, and BetBlocker, a free gambling blocking tool that had warned in December about facing a “funding cliff edge,” will get £1.12m. Several Citizens Advice bureaux and regional organisations will receive between £140,000 and £1.3m.
Some £12m will be distributed to local authorities to support community-level gambling harm prevention and reduction initiatives.
Betblocker’s inclusion was celebrated by founder Duncan Garvie, who called the grant “a significant accolade” and “a substantial bar against which the organisation would be measured.” Yet Garvie also said that other high-quality service providers had been unsuccessful in their applications for funding.
The rollout of the new funding arrangements has been controversial. Some charities complained of receiving only 13 days’ notice of funding decisions, and several long-established organisations have been denied support.
Gamban, the well-known gambling-blocking software provider was excluded because it operates as a limited company rather than a voluntary, community, and social enterprise. It has since introduced a subscription fee of £4.99 per month in England and Scotland, though the service remains free in Wales.
The Gambling Lived Experience Network described the transition as “a glaring example of what happens when existing sector experts are excluded from planning.” In response, the government last month announced a Gambling Levy Transition Fund, offering three months of emergency support for organisations left unfunded. Applications are open until April 30.
The government appointed three national commissioners to oversee Gambling Levy funds: NHS England for treatment, UK Research and Innovation for research, and OHID for prevention, along with the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Wales.
The levy was first invoiced on September 1, 2025, and is expected to generate around £120m a year from licensed gambling operators. Thirty percent is allocated to OHID and devolved governments for prevention, and the rest is divided between treatment and research.
