UK Gambling Levy: Charities Launch Network to Share Funds
The gambling harm charity Ygam has held the first meeting of a new network designed to coordinate the growing number of organisations now funded by Britain’s statutory gambling levy, the compulsory charge on operator profits that replaced the industry’s old voluntary donations. The charity said the launch of its Prevention Delivery Network, held this week, brought together groups delivering harm-prevention work funded through the government’s new levy system.
What’s actually changed
The meeting was the first gathering of organisations
commissioned through the Gambling Harms Prevention and Resilience Fund by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) under the UK’s new statutory levy, the funding of which was awarded earlier in April
. That fund is part of a wider overhaul of how safer-gambling work gets paid for:
the UK transitioned from a voluntary model of industry contributions to a statutory levy imposed on gambling operators to ensure that funding for gambling harm prevention remains consistent and continuous
.
Every licensed operator now pays into the levy automatically, rather than choosing whether and how much to donate.
Collection rates vary between 0.1% to 1.1% of Gross Gaming Yield (GGY) depending on the sector, with operators offering online play sitting at a 1% levy, land-based operators at 0.4%, and bingos and AGCs at 0.1%
, and the money is due to be collected each year on the same date, with
collections, due 1 October each year, allocated at 20% for research, 30% for prevention, and 50% for treatment of problem gambling
.
Ygam’s new network is meant to stop that prevention slice being spent in silos.
It is intended to bring together the organisations delivering gambling harm prevention activity under the new statutory levy system, with quarterly meetups highlighting common challenges and identifying opportunities for collaboration between levy-funded prevention programmes
. Ygam chief executive Emily Tofield said the network marked
“an important step towards building a more connected and collaborative approach to gambling harm prevention,” adding it was “encouraging to see such strong engagement at the inaugural meeting”
.
The prevention strand of the levy that funds this work is worth roughly £25.4 million a year, shared between 33 voluntary and community organisations. Ygam itself was awarded £3 million to run programmes across England from 2026 to 2028, while other beneficiaries include GamCare and Betknowmore.
What it means for you
If you have ever used a safer-gambling helpline, a school awareness programme, a blocking tool such as BetBlocker, or advice from a Citizens Advice bureau on gambling debt, there is a reasonable chance the organisation behind it is now funded through this levy rather than through a direct arrangement with a bookmaker or casino brand. The intended benefit is independence: money moves from operators to the government-appointed commissioners, and then out to charities, rather than operators picking and choosing which causes to sponsor. For players, that should mean prevention and treatment services are less exposed to any single company’s commercial priorities, and better coordinated between organisations that were previously competing for the same funding pot.
The bigger picture
This is one of the clearer, less contentious strands of the Gambling Act reform programme to have actually bedded in. Where stake limits, affordability checks and advertising rules have all drawn pushback from parts of the industry, the switch to a compulsory levy has proceeded largely as planned since operators began paying into it. The launch of a formal delivery network suggests the sector funded by the levy is now mature enough to start comparing notes on what works, rather than simply processing new grant awards — a sign that this part of the reform agenda is moving from set-up to delivery.
Sources
- SBC News – Ygam initiative puts new UK gambling levy under spotlight
- Eastern European Gaming – Ygam To Receive Government Prevention Funding From Newly Introduced Statutory Levy
- Yogonet International – UK govt. allocates $34 million to gambling harm prevention groups under statutory levy
- SBC News – OHID rolls out £25m prevention fund as levy era begins
