The government has invited charities to bid to a short-term fund launched after its levy on gambling firms raised just under £120m in its first year.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has “rapidly established” the Gambling Levy Transition Fund (GLTF) while a new permanent funding arrangement is set up.
Before the levy was introduced in April last year, some charities providing gambling harm prevention and treatment services in England were voluntarily funded by the industry.
In future, the government intends to allocate 20% of money raised through the new levy on operators to research, 30% to prevention and 50% to treatment of gambling-related harms.
However, DCMS said tight time frames for commissioning processes and decisions created the risk of a funding gap, which may have put vulnerable beneficiaries of organisations previously funded under the voluntary system at risk.
It has therefore launched the GLTF to offer grants funding for a period of three months, starting from 1 April 2026, to “ensure that there is no break or gap in provision during this period of transition”.
To be eligible, charities must have been using funding from the industry-funded voluntary system between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2026.
A maximum of three-months-worth of grants will be offered to charities based on how much they received per year under the voluntary system arrangements.
Charities must also have unsuccessfully bid for funding from the gambling levy via one of the government’s relevant treatment and prevention funds.
The GLTF application deadline is 30 April.
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