OHID Adds Gamban and Chapter One to England Gambling Harms Funding
England's OHID has added new groups to its levy-funded prevention round, with total funding to 2028 reported at £39.7m, up from £25.4m in April.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has widened its England gambling harms funding round, adding Gamban, Chapter One, Gambling with Lives, GamLearn and others and lifting the 2026–2028 total from £25.4 million to £39.7 million, according to NEXT.io on 6 November 2026.
OHID is part of the Department of Health and Social Care and manages the grant fund. The scheme pays voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organizations from the prevention strand of the statutory gambling levy. It applies to England, not the whole United Kingdom.
What changed from the April allocation
The new awards raise total prevention funding by about £14.3 million, or roughly 56%. In April 2026 OHID provisionally allocated £25,441,281 to 33 VCSE organizations after an application window that ran from 14 January to 6 February 2026. The list was explicitly provisional, and OHID said it would add a change note if organizations or amounts moved.
The April list included legacy providers GamCare (£4,042,699), YGAM (£3,000,000), Betknowmore (£2,994,305) and BetBlocker (£1,120,000). Gamban, Gambling with Lives, GamLearn, Chapter One, Beacon Counselling Trust, Waythrough and Tameside Mind were not on it, so the November awards are new entries rather than increases to existing ones.
According to NEXT.io, the additions followed legal challenges to earlier funding decisions.
Who received the new awards
Five named organizations receive £11,122,500 between them. Four of them, described by NEXT.io as campaigner-aligned, total £9,484,358, which matches the "more than £9.4 million" headline figure. Beacon is a long-standing charity and sits outside that group.
| Organization | Award | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter One | £3,057,218 | New to the list |
| Gamban | £2,714,063 | Software provider, not a charity |
| Gambling with Lives | £1,881,859 | New to the list |
| GamLearn | £1,831,218 | New to the list |
| Beacon Counselling Trust | £1,638,142 | Previously funded charity |
| Waythrough | Not reported | Also funded |
| Tameside, Oldham, Glossop and Stockport Mind | Not reported | Also funded |
The five named awards leave about £3.2 million of the £14.3 million increase without an itemized recipient figure. The two organizations with no reported amounts account for the remaining funded additions.
Gamban sells blocking software to consumers, so it is a commercial business inside a scheme that otherwise funds charities and community groups. "Campaigner-aligned" is NEXT.io's label, not an official OHID category.
How the fund is structured
The allocations cover two financial years, 2026–27 and 2027–28, and carry a no-industry-money condition. Applicants had to commit to taking no direct industry funding after 1 April 2026. The National Lottery and social lotteries are excluded from that restriction.
The VCSE round is one of several streams drawing on the levy:
- £12 million is going separately to upper-tier councils for 2026–27 from the same prevention strand.
- NHS England runs a separate treatment grant.
- OHID anticipates further funding for 2027–28.
The levy itself was set up under the regime Gamingo covered when the UK implemented its £100M mandatory gambling levy. The same package also brought mandatory levy and online slot limits, and the funding mechanism drew immediate debate across the industry. Earlier, ministers had promised a smooth transition to the new gambling levy.
What it means for operators and providers
For operators, the levy now underwrites a larger and more varied set of prevention providers. The mandatory contribution is collected by the state and distributed by OHID, with the no-industry-funding condition keeping recipients at a distance from operators after 1 April 2026. Operators building safer gambling programs will find a wider pool of England-funded providers in the field, including a blocking-software vendor in Gamban.
For providers outside the list, the statement that OHID expects further funding for 2027–28 is the relevant signal. Further allocation decisions may follow the same route as this one, with changes recorded on the GOV.UK funding page.
The scheme's focus on prevention fits wider public-health thinking on gambling, including the call for stronger regulation and a gambling advertising ban from the World Health Organization.
Status reviewed on 6 November 2026. April allocation figures and funding conditions come from the OHID page on GOV.UK, while the November awards and the £39.7 million total are as reported by NEXT.io. More regulation news and EMEA coverage.
Frequently asked questions
What is the OHID gambling harms prevention funding?
It is a grant fund run by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, part of the Department of Health and Social Care. It pays voluntary, community and social enterprise organizations in England to prevent gambling harms. The money comes from the prevention strand of the statutory gambling levy and covers 2026–27 and 2027–28.
Which organizations were added to the funding list?
According to NEXT.io, the additions are Gambling with Lives (£1,881,859), Gamban (£2,714,063), GamLearn (£1,831,218), Chapter One (£3,057,218) and Beacon Counselling Trust (£1,638,142). Waythrough and Tameside, Oldham, Glossop and Stockport Mind are also funded, with no amounts reported.
How much gambling harms prevention funding is now available to 2028?
Total prevention funding to 2028 is reported at £39.7 million, up from the £25,441,281 provisionally allocated to 33 organizations in April 2026. That is a rise of roughly £14.3 million, or about 56%. A separate £12 million goes to upper-tier councils for 2026–27 from the same levy strand.
Does the funding apply across the whole UK?
No. The OHID funding page states that it applies to England. Gambling harms policy and treatment funding are handled separately in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so references to UK government funding should be read as England-only for this scheme.
Can funded organizations take money from gambling operators?
Applicants had to commit to taking no direct industry funding after 1 April 2026. The National Lottery and social lotteries were excluded from that restriction. The condition applied to the application round that ran from 14 January to 6 February 2026.
- Gambling Levy
- Gambling Harm Prevention
- Prevention
- LEVY
- Gambling Harms
- Gambling Regulation
