Gamban to Offer Free Service Again in the UK

Gamban has announced that it will once again offer its services free of charge in the UK. The company took the same step in Wales earlier this year. Like other safer gambling and consumer protection organisations in the UK, Gamban went through a compliance process when the statutory gambling harms levy came into effect and was forced to move to a subscription-only model.

The company says it has been able to reverse this change thanks to funding approved by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). Gamban provides services to people experiencing gambling harm and operates as a self-exclusion platform across different gambling companies. Its technology is said to be based on the experiences of people who have gambled problematically and suffered gambling harm.

The funding system in the UK changed at the start of this year. The country moved away from the RET system, overseen by GambleAware, which had long relied on operators' voluntary annual donations and has now closed, and adopted a new statutory levy model. Contributions are now collected by the NHS across England, Scotland and Wales. The NHS manages treatment, OHID distributes prevention funds, and research is carried out by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Following this change, many organisations fighting gambling harm faced the risk of closure or of having to limit their services. The new funding round and the allocation of the Gambling Harm Prevention Fund, which allowed Gamban to return to free service, suggest the sector may begin to stabilise. Gamban says that with this opportunity, and alongside its partners in the sector, it aims to provide free protection to more people.