NHS Stops taking Gambling Funds To Treat Addiction 19 February 2022 The NHS will stop taking cash from the betting market to treat people with dependency, the NHS England national psychological health director has actually said. Writing to charity GambleAware, Claire Murdoch said the NHS would rather fund its own gaming services from 1 April. The betting market paid ₤ 16m to GambleAware between April and December to assist fund treatment services. Of this, ₤ 1.2 m was awarded in grants to NHS-run betting centers. But Ms Murdoch stated clients were unpleasant about using services spent for by the betting industry - and she stated that had "heavily influenced" her choice to decline future funding from GambleAware. She said industry funding "has actually permitted us to roll out treatment services faster than would have otherwise been possible", however there was a desire to move the funding into basic NHS funding. "Additionally, our clinicians feel there are conflicts of interest in their clinics being part-funded by resources from the betting industry," Ms Murdoch wrote. It comes less than a year after Ms Murdoch told the Guardian, external that betting firms need to be struck with a mandatory levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had been delegated "select up the pieces". 'I 'd bet on the school run and on the bus' Teenagers 'bombarded by gambling advertisements' In her most current letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not deal with the "damages" brought by gambling alone, and neither is it the NHS's "task" to do so. Ms Murdoch stated the NHS would continue to work closely with GambleAware to establish a treatment system that is "fit for function". In 2015, the general voluntary pledges to GambleAware included ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and just over ₤ 4m from Bet365.