The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has issued new guidance for bodies receiving funding from the statutory levy, which urges the organisations to avoid “attendance or participation in industry funded events.”

The policy appears consistent with the Gambling Commission’s intention to keep RET providers as separate from the industry as possible, and led to an absence of charity representatives at the recent iGB Live event.

“Undue industry influence in the gambling harms space – or at least fears of undue industry influence – drove the implementation of the centralised levy and the abandonment of the previous voluntary system,” reported Next.io. 

“In what has felt like an overcorrection, many charities that had previously operated successfully under the voluntary model have been overlooked for funding due to their perceived closeness to industry. But for those who are being apportioned money from the fund, there now remain roadblocks in the way of performing their function properly.”

The guidelines mean organisations such as BetBlocker, which did attend iGB Live having been given just one week’s notice of the guidelines, are likely to miss out on beneficial engagement with the industry.

BetBlocker founder Duncan Garvie took to LinkedIn to note the number of positive conversations the organisation took part in during the event, adding “none of them would have occurred if we hadn’t participated.”