GambleAware’s chief executive officer, Zoë Osmond, has weighed in on the statutory levy consultations, expressing her excitement about the measure. However, she also had a few points to make.

For reference, the levy would require all operators in the UK to provide a portion of their revenues for gambling harm research and treatment and was among the measures outlined in the Gambling Act white paper.

Osmond said that GambleAware has been waiting for this measure for years and is happy to finally see it happen. The charity sector previously depended on voluntary donations but will now have some much-needed security.

The CEO of GambleAware added that she hopes that the sector can finally move on from the “unhelpful distraction” of heated discussions about dependence and funding.

In the meantime, Osmond said that the Levy can potentially transform the charity sector, helping more people across Britain get access to gambling harm treatment. However, she noted that there are a number of “core elements in the proposed approach” that her team believes could negatively impact the provision of services.

Osmond Had a Few Points to Make

Osmond started by mentioning that GambleAware supports the creation of a National Strategy for the Prevention and Treatment of Gambling Harms. While this was not a part of the proposals, GambleAware believes that one is absolutely needed to transform the system of prevention and treatment.

In addition, GambleAware would prefer if there be a single Prevention and Treatment Commissioner tasked with increasing awareness of societal issues and accessibility of gambling harm treatment services across the country. In the absence of such a commissioner, GambleAware believes that it is essential that the Treatment and Prevention Commissioners work together to ensure that the system is working as intended.

Osmond also believes that the current proposed funding allocations do not adequately reflect GambleAware’s desire to focus more on prevention and early intervention than on treatment.

In order to have a meaningful impact on gambling harm at a population level across Great Britain, prevention must be reprioritized with additional funding. At a minimum, there should be an equal focus on both prevention and treatment. 

Zoë Osmond, CEO, GambleAware

Osmond also noted that the current definitions of treatment and prevention used in the consultation do not recognize that prevention is broken into primary, secondary and tertiary approaches. The current proposals define interventions as Tier 1 and Tier 2 prevention and put them under the authority of the Treatment Commissioner.

Osmond recommended the co-commissioning of these interventions, including the helpline. She also proposed that the launch of national public awareness campaigns and digital early interventions should be included within the remit of the Prevention Commissioner.

Finally, Osmond once again emphasized the need for a smooth transition to the new system. She warned that failing to do that might deprive the third sector of funding and disrupt the availability of services.

Osmond concluded that she hopes her concerns will be addressed so that the levy reaches its full transformational potential.

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The rowdy streamers’ professed love for streaming slots has extended beyond Twitch, as the platform and its chief executive officer, Dan Clancy, have taken a much harder look at what gambling content must be allowed onto the Amazon-owned giant.

Twitch CEO Debates on The Validity of Gambling Content on the Platform

Twitch has been muddling through reform for gambling content, introducing a dedicated policy that has people stream in the Slots category, one of the highest-grossing and most watched on the platform, but the company also pressed on with another measure – its decision to suspend streams that promote specific gambling websites.

Essentially, brands such as Stake.com and Rollbit.com are no longer allowed to be streamed, which has prompted the former to take matters into its own hands and introduce a dedicated streaming platform, Kick, which has been gaining followers and viewers exponentially.

This comes at a time when Clancy is doubling down on his decision, and the company’s guidance and direction, that in order to have a casino website streamed on Twitch, it must have been regulated by a government agency.

He specifically seems to suggest an agency based in the United States and has criticized offshore gambling sites, that is sites that do not have a license to operate in the country. Clancy spoke during an interview with Filian, a VTube streamer, and said:

The thing that was growing was these unregulated offshore gambling sites. These are sites that there’s nobody overlooking to see, for example, what are the odds on the craps tables, are they tweaking them, do they change them, cause they’re not regulated.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy

No Objection Against Gambling in General

He further explained that there were significant amounts of money being forwarded towards those gambling sites, originating from Twitch, which the executive said was not something the platform thought was good for its communities. Clancy, though, argues that streaming gambling as a concept is perfectly reasonable and that Twitch has no strong aversion to the institution of gambling as long as it’s done correctly.

However, Clancy is also somewhat vague in what websites that are now deemed to be not a good fit to be shown on Twitch streams would have to do in order to qualify. He argues that should those sites become regulated, and “are willing to adhere to the regulations of most major countries,” they would be acceptable on the platform.

Then again, this doesn’t really introduce clarity in the debate as the United States, for example, does not care if a website is regulated in the United Kingdom. In fact, every individual state may press a claim against sites that target their own citizens without a license.  

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