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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
THE £ 100 MILLION STATUTORY LEVY GAMBLE
Better Change founder Victoria Reed warns of the high stakes involved in getting the governance for the statutory levy wrong – one pressing question being how and where will the money be spent?
H ow would you feel if a cost to your business or a tax that you were paying was suddenly increased by 66 %? At the very least you would expect some justification for the rise as well as a clear plan as to how the money would be spent, right?
These are two questions that so far the government, as well as its appointed commissioners for research( UKRI), prevention( OHID) and treatment( NHS) have not answered. This is despite the fact that the transition to a statutory levy for gambling harm has already come into force on 6 April this year.
Given the huge influx of funds in comparison to the money raised from the previous voluntary scheme, and that it already seems decided how much will be thrown at each of the commissioners( 50 % for treatment, 30 % for prevention and 20 % for research), it is imperative that public and professional confidence in the levy is not lost before the scheme has even begun. This can only be achieved by publishing a robust set of
iGB L! VE 2025 • ISSUE 138 • 65