NHS Stops taking Gambling Funds To Treat Addiction 19 February 2022 The NHS will stop taking cash from the gaming market to treat people with dependency, the NHS England national mental health director has actually said. Writing to charity GambleAware, Claire Murdoch said the NHS would instead fund its own gaming services from 1 April. The gambling 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 gaming centers. But Ms Murdoch said clients were uncomfortable about utilizing services spent for by the gambling industry - and she said that had actually "greatly affected" her decision to decline future financing from GambleAware. She said industry funding "has actually allowed us to roll out treatment services much 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 centers 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 companies should be hit with a required levy to fund treatment, as the NHS had actually been delegated "choose up the pieces". 'I 'd bet on the school run and on the bus' Teenagers 'bombarded by gambling ads' In her most current letter to GambleAware, she stated the health service can not resolve the "damages" brought by gambling alone, and neither is it the NHS's "job" to do so. Ms Murdoch stated the NHS would continue to work closely with GambleAware to establish a treatment system that is "suitable for function". Last year, the general voluntary promises to GambleAware consisted of ₤ 1m from William Hill, ₤ 4m from Entain and just over ₤ 4m from Bet365.