UKGC Winds Up Safer Gambling Advisory Board as New Levy-Funded Era Begins

• The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has officially wound up its Safer Gambling Advisory Board (ABSG) after six years, stating the influential body has successfully fulfilled its original remit.
• The closure is a planned transition, marking a shift from an advisory-led model to a new era of evidence-first research that will be funded by the new statutory levy.
• The ABSG is credited with reframing gambling harm as a public health issue and championing the role of lived experience in policy-making through its Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).
• The LEAP will continue its work, ensuring that the voice of those with lived experience remains central to the new levy-funded research agenda.
• The move comes as operators prepare to make their first statutory levy payments by 1 October, a cornerstone of the Gambling Act White Paper reforms.

The UK Gambling Commission has announced the planned closure of its Safer Gambling Advisory Board (ABSG), the influential body that has helped to shape Great Britain’s approach to gambling harm for the past six years. The regulator has been clear that the move is a planned and orderly transition, with the board having now met the remit it was given when it was formed in 2019.

The ABSG was established to provide independent advice and guidance for the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. Its closure marks a significant moment in the evolution of the UK’s regulatory landscape. “ It shaped how we think about gambling harms and embedded lived experience in regulation,” said UKGC Chief Executive Andrew Rhodes, praising the board’s legacy.

Paving the Way for a New Levy-Funded System

The winding up of the ABSG is an integral part of the shift to the new statutory levy system, a key reform from the 2023 Gambling Act White Paper. The old advisory function, which helped to design the national strategy, is now making way for a new research function that will be directly funded by the mandatory levy on licensed operators.

The UKGC has stated that this new era will be “evidence-led,” with all levy-funded research being subject to an independent, academic peer-review process to ensure its integrity.

The Board’s Legacy: A Public Health Approach

The ABSG’s most significant and lasting achievement was its success in reframing the debate around gambling harm, moving it away from a focus on individual “problem gamblers” and towards a broader public health issue.

A key part of this legacy is the creation of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP), which brings the voices of those who have been directly affected by gambling harm into the heart of the policy-making process. The UKGC has confirmed that the LEAP will continue its vital work and will be central to the new research framework.

A New Era of Operator Responsibility

For operators, the closure of the advisory board and the start of the levy system marks a definitive shift. The first payments for the new levy, which will see operators contribute between 0.1% and 1.1% of their GGY, are due by 1 October. The responsibility for funding and implementing safer gambling is no longer a matter for voluntary contribution or advisory discussion; it is now a formal, mandatory, and compliance-driven obligation.

This new UK model-a mandatory levy funding independent, peer-reviewed research, with a permanent role for lived experience-is being watched closely by regulators around the world. As one commentator noted, it could become the “North Star that other regulators follow.”