A UK health body’s recommendation to exclude the gambling industry from gambling treatment services has raised serious questions. [Image: Shuttertstock.com]

The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s new guidance, that the gambling industry should have no involvement in gambling treatment and related services, has already garnered stark warnings.

NICE’s report published Wednesday recommends all such services “should be commissioned and provided without influence or involvement from the gambling industry.”

According to media reports, the recommendation to exclude the gambling industry from the treatment and support sector poses both a serious funding risk and does away with the sector’s expertise 

People are very nervous and don’t know which direction they should be taking.”

GamCare’s ex-Head of Safer Gambling Frank McCready told media on Wednesday that NICE’s report has spooked the health sector and that: “People are very nervous and don’t know which direction they should be taking.”

Better Change Engagement Director Robert Mabbett flagged up how the UK Betting and Gaming Council ensured its members “voluntarily donated substantial sums to research, education, and treatment programmes” that raised over £120m ($149m) since 2019. 

Mabbett posited that since NICE’s recommendation, the threat of a mandatory levy demanding £100m ($124m) per year is a major concern considering “there is little clarity on how these funds will be allocated.”

The Better Change exec essentially said it wasn’t just industry money potentially being thrown away, but also its expertise. “Now, industry voices are being dismissed, and experienced professionals are being locked out.”

Mabbett opined that dismissing the expertise of 1,000s of professionals “makes no sense.”