Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money the NHS has spent treating patients with gambling-related addiction problems in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.

The NHS Long Term Plan announced the creation of 15 new specialist gambling treatment clinics. There are currently five specialist clinics in operation: the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London; a children and young persons’ provision at the National Problem Gambling Clinic; the Northern Gambling Service in Leeds; and satellite clinics in Manchester and Sunderland.

National Health Service expenditure on the specialist clinics was £1 million in 2019/20, £1 million in 2020/21 and £3 million in 2021/22. Data on the number of patients treated by the NHS for gambling addiction is not held centrally. The NHS does not receive money directly from the gambling industry. Until 1 April 2022, the London and Leeds clinics were partially funded by GambleAware, an independent charity supported by voluntary donations from the gambling industry. GambleAware contributed £1.2 million per year to the NHS clinics in 2019, 2020 and 2021.