GamCare

GamCare sits at the point where gambling policy becomes a service someone actually receives. It runs the national helpline, delivers treatment directly and through partners, and administers schemes including multi-operator self-exclusion for parts of the land-based sector.

Its funding history illustrates the sector's central awkwardness. Support came for years from voluntary industry contributions, which left the charity exposed to the accusation that its independence was compromised and to the practical problem that income could not be forecast. The move to a statutory levy is intended to resolve both, at the cost of a transition period during which frontline services must continue without the old arrangement.

Because it holds operational data on helpline demand and self-exclusion, it is also one of the few sources of evidence about harm that does not originate with either operators or campaigners.