The gambling industry will be forced to pay as much as £100million a year towards addiction treatment and research under Government plans announced today.
Online betting firms will have to hand over 1 per cent of their profits, while traditional bookmakers and casinos will pay 0.4 per cent.
The statutory levy, first proposed in a white paper earlier this year but now set out in detail in a public consultation, replaces an existing voluntary arrangement that saw some firms pay just £1 towards help for addicts.
As well as being charged a set fee, firms will no longer have any say in how the money is spent.
Instead the Gambling Commission watchdog will hand the cash to the NHS and UK Research and Innovation for addiction treatment and research projects.
Gambling minister Stuart Andrew (pictured) said that they are working to implement ‘bold plans for reform’ because they know gambling addictions ‘devastate lives’
Online betting firms will have to hand over 1 per cent of their profits, while traditional bookmakers and casinos will pay 0.4 per cent
Gambling minister Stuart Andrew said: ‘We know that gambling addiction can devastate lives, which is why we are working quickly to implement our bold plans for reform.
‘This consultation brings us a step closer to being able to provide £100million of new funding for research, prevention and treatment, including ring fenced investment for the NHS to help gambling addicts.
‘Gambling firms should always pay their fair share and this new statutory levy will ensure that they are legally required to do just that.’
Details in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) consultation show that all firms that make more than £500,000 a year will be expected to pay the levy based on their ‘gross gambling yield’.
When it comes into force by 2027, it is expected to raise between £90million and £100million a year.
Up to a fifth of the money will go towards a new Gambling Research Programme and another third towards a ‘GB-wide approach to prevention, early intervention and education’.
As much as 60 per cent will be provided to the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales ‘to commission treatment and support services’.