UK Sets Aside £25.4 Million for Gambling Harm Prevention

The UK has set out its first major prevention grants from the statutory gambling levy, with £25.4 million provisionally assigned to 33 organisations in England for work running from 2026 to 2028. The funding sits under the prevention arm of the levy, which has raised almost £120 million so far.

Good to Know

• A total of £25,441,281 has been provisionally allocated to 33 VCSE organisations.
• GamCare, YGAM and Betknowmore are among the biggest provisional recipients.
• A separate £12 million will go to upper-tier local councils in 2026 to 2027.

UK Starts Levy Fund Distribution

The biggest share in the first prevention round is headed to GamCare at £4.04 million. YGAM is set for £3.0 million, while Betknowmore is due £2.99 million. BetBlocker is on the list at £1.12 million, and other grants range from about £140,000 to £1.3 million. All awards remain provisional while grant agreements are finalised.

OHID said the money was allocated after a closed application window and a scoring process based on published criteria, backed by due diligence checks. Applicants also had to declare conflicts of interest and agree to stop taking direct industry funding, apart from National Lottery and social lottery funding.

The grants are meant to back prevention and resilience work rather than treatment. OHID said the aim is to support equitable and innovative prevention strategies while helping organisations build projects that can last. Separately, NHS England is running an independent VCSE grant focused on treatment services.

More money is also on the way at local level. The government said £12 million from the same levy will go to upper-tier local councils in the 2026 to 2027 financial year, with another £12 million expected in 2027 to 2028.

The wider structure matters too. Under the statutory levy model, prevention funding is handled by OHID, treatment and support services take the largest share, and research funding goes through UK Research and Innovation. The shift replaced the older voluntary system.

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