About us

GambleAware

GambleAware is the leading charity working to keep people safe from gambling harms. 

We are a leading commissioner for gambling harms, support and treatment services across Great Britain. As an independent charity, we work in close collaboration with the NHS, clinicians, local and national government, gambling treatment providers, as well as other mental health services to reduce gambling harms.
 
Our commissioned services currently deliver free and confidential treatment to 12,000 people and over 41,000 calls were made to the GambleAware commissioned, National Gambling Helpline last year.

Anyone experiencing harm can visit BeGambleAware.org or call the helpline 0808 8020 133.

We have an extremely robust system of governance, and we are accountable to the Charity Commission. Our independent Board of trustees are leaders within the NHS and public health sector, and we work alongside DCMS, DHSC, OHID, the Gambling Commission and the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG), who all recognise our integrity and independence. The gambling industry has absolutely no input, influence or authority over any of our activity and those with lived experience of gambling harm inform and guide our work.

Download our Briefing Note (last updated August 2022) to learn more about GambleAware. 

Other relevant resources about GambleAware: 

• Organisational Strategy 2021-2026
• Impact Report April 2023
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021-2026

Public health

GambleAware regards gambling as a public health issue and thus reducing gambling harms requires a public health approach taking account all three aspects of prevention:

• Primary or Universal – aimed at the whole population to promote a safer environment
• Secondary or Selective – aimed at groups with a prevalence of suffering gambling harms
• Tertiary or Indicated – aimed at individuals suffering gambling disorder

Guided by this public health model, we commission integrated prevention services on a national scale and in partnership with expert organisations and agencies, including the NHS, across three areas of activity:

Commissioning the National Gambling Support Network

Public health campaigns and practical support to local services

Commissioning research and evaluation to improve knowledge of what works in prevention

Charitable objects

a) The advancement of education aimed at preventing gambling harms for the benefit of the public in Great Britain, in particular young people and those who are most vulnerable, by carrying out research, by providing advice and information, by raising awareness, and by making grants; and,

b) Working to keep people in Great Britain safe from gambling harms through the application of a public health model based on three levels of prevention: primary – universal promotion of a safer environment; secondary – selective intervention for those who may be ‘at risk’; and, tertiary – direct support for those directly or indirectly affected by gambling disorder, by carrying out research, by providing advice and information, by raising awareness, and by making grants for the provision of effective treatment, interventions and support.

GambleAware Organisational Strategy 2021-26

GambleAware published a new five-year strategy in April 2021, which defined the charity's vision of a society where people are safe from gambling harms. This vision is based on a whole-system approach, which acknowledges the many other organisations, networks and individuals - including those who have lived experience of gambling harm - that already play a key role across the system, or have the potential to do so in the future. 

To get to where GambleAware expects to be in five years, the charity must focus on delivering four commissioning objectives to be effective at helping to prevent gambling harms:

• Increase awareness and understanding of gambling harms
• Increase access to services and reduce gambling harm inequalities
• Build capacity amongst healthcare professionals, social prescribers, debt advisers, faith leaders, community services and others, so they are better equipped to respond to gambling harms.
• Deliver effective leadership of the commissioning landscape to improve the coherence, accessibility, diversity and effectiveness of the the National Gambling Support Network, formerly known as the 'National Gambling Treatment Service'.

GambleAware has been able to develop this five-year organisational strategy due to new funding certainty following the commitment of the four largest gambling operators in Great Britain to provide £100 million to the charity until 2024. Despite this support, GambleAware continues to support a mandatory levy to ensure continued funding certainty for the future.

Strategic Delivery Plan 2018-20

GambleAware has published a Strategic Delivery Plan for 2018-20, which makes clear its strategic delivery priorities for the next two years.

GambleAware is working to double its annual expenditure to £16 million, taking into account recent settlement payments made by operators following Gambling Commission enforcement actions.

A core strategic aim is to collaborate with national partners such as Citizens’ Advice, Royal Society for Public Health and others to help maximise the effectiveness and efficiency in the services and activities we commission and fund. Evaluating the impact of its funding will inform future funding decisions.

GambleAware Strategy 2016-21

GambleAware published its 5-year strategy in November 2016, reinforcing its commitment to help those suffering from gambling-related harms by funding research, education and treatment services.

The strategy reviews the charity’s objective to reduce gambling-related harms and treat those who suffer. GambleAware is seeking to increase its funding to £10m a year as it calls for all those who profit from gambling, not just the gambling industry, but also advertisers, lotteries and professional sports clubs, to contribute to research, education and treatment services. Following the appointment of Kate Lampard CBE as chair of trustees, the strategy demonstrates how the charity will act as an independent voice in a controversial field and provide sufficient help and support to those who need it.

Working with government

GambleAware works co-operatively across Government:

• Member of joint-working group co-chaired by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC)
• Member of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group
• Collaborating with the Ministry of Defence in relation to gambling as a health issue for serving military, veterans and their families.

We have also established advisory boards in Wales and Scotland to help guide our future commissioning plans in those nations.