As safer gambling in the UK continues to transition into a new era, Gordon Moody’s freshly signed funding contract with the NHS will be welcomed as a step towards consistency.
The NHS funding will enable Gordon Moody to offer a foundation ‘to continue delivering evidence-based support whilst contributing to the development of a sustainable, accessible and integrated treatment system’ to meet the needs of those impacted by gambling-related harm.
Jon Murray, Chief Executive Officer of Gordon Moody, commented: “Signing this agreement represents an important moment for Gordon Moody and more importantly, for the individuals and families affected by gambling-related harm who rely on specialist support.
“We welcome the opportunity to continue working alongside NHS England and partners across the treatment system to ensure people can access high-quality, evidence-based support when they need it most.
“This agreement provides stability as we continue to strengthen and develop our services, expand access to support and build new pathways into treatment and recovery.”
The UK is accelerating into a new era for the way safer gambling specialists and voluntary services are funded, with Gordon Moody being one of many who warned in 2025 that as a result of the new funding framework, the third sector was on the cusp of calamity.
This was largely down to delays and subsequent uncertainty around future funding. Removing the cliff-edge status of Gordon Moody will go some of the way to defusing some of the criticism over the new process, but structural problems are still rife within the transition.
A further warning was from BetBlocker, a charity that also went through an extensive process to secure NHS funding.
Nonetheless, in a previous interview with iGaming Expert, Chief Executive Officer Duncan Garvie warned that the gambling support industry is at risk of losing significant knowledge and expertise as a result of the new framework.
He said: “I’ve said publicly already that this has been a very bittersweet few weeks for us. Look, we’re thrilled to get that certainty and that security of funding, but I’ve watched so many peers, people I’ve learned from, people who have taught me in this space, organisations whose work I have thought really, really highly of getting really hard outcomes from this.
“I remain optimistic and I hope for the best for the future, but I’m not going to say that I don’t feel that there’s been some real blows to the support infrastructure with some of the funding decisions. My heart goes out to all of these organisations and if there’s anything that I, or BetBlocker, can do to support them in this tough period, I’m saying this to anyone listening: please just reach out to me.
“I don’t know what we practically can do, but we’re willing to try. I do not doubt that the new system will account for the needs of the end users and will ultimately, once a transition period is through, work in the best interests of users, but in the interim, I think we risk losing a lot of knowledge and expertise in the space.”
