UK expands gambling harm prevention fund

In the UK, an initial allocation of about €11.37 million has been made to four organisations from the gambling harms prevention fund. According to the updated list, the total proposed funding for 40 organisations rose to about €47.60 million between 2026 and 2028.

Gambling with Lives, which represents families who have lost relatives to suicide linked to gambling, will receive about €2.26 million. About €3.25 million is projected for Gamban, a gambling blocking software provider, about €2.20 million for GamLEARN, and about €3.67 million for Chapter One.

The fund is managed by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), part of the Department of Health and Social Care. The government says the list is provisional and that organisations and amounts may change. It is emphasised that the fund is not guaranteed until grant agreements are completed.

NEXT.io reported that some organisations have filed legal objections to earlier funding decisions, and that some campaigners who did not receive funding in the first round have expressed dissatisfaction. According to the report, the total before additional organisations were included was about €30.45 million. The list does not explain the reasons for changes to individual allocations. OHID says it assessed applications against published eligibility and scoring criteria and carried out the necessary checks under public funding requirements.

The voluntary, community and social enterprise fund is financed from the prevention share of the statutory levy paid by gambling operators. Applications were received between 14 January and 6 February 2026. Applicants were required to declare any interests and commit to ending direct industry funding after 1 April 2026. The National Lottery and societal lotteries were exempt from this requirement.

Separately, the government is distributing about €14.39 million to upper-tier local authorities for 2026-27 to prevent gambling harms. NHS England, meanwhile, manages a separate grant programme for the treatment of gambling harms.