Ahead of the festive season, NHS England warned of a significant increase in patient care demands for gambling addiction fulled by gambling adverts over the Christmas period.

Dr Matt Gaskell, Head of NHS Northern Gambling Service, viewed the festive period as a “perfect storm of temptation” for relapses given the raft of football, darts and horse racing fixtures taking place between Christmas and the new year.

However, the warning of festive temptations was met with confusion by the wider gambling industry given the NHS’ new role as chief commissioner of gambling treatment, as set out by Labour’s changes to the statutory levy for gambling research, education and treatment (RET).

Speaking on the latest episode of iGaming Daily, Ted Menmuir, SBC’s Content Director, said: “What caught the industry off guard was the way the message was worded. It referenced stats that were two years old.

“Part of the issue with the statement was that immediately the UK press gathered on it as these are the NHS’ direct concerns. This has long existed and I think the conversation has moved on from the stats that they were using to what is applicable and how we proceed to get better treatment and more direct interventions for problem gambling. 

“I don’t think it’s reflective of where the stakeholders involved in RET and the frontline of gambling harm prevention are.”

The transfer of responsibility to the NHS for the research and treatment of gambling harm was met with an anxious reaction from some sections of the gambling industry, especially given the perceived political strain the organisation is under due to increasing waiting lists and accusations of inefficiency. 

As chief commissioner of RET services, the NHS will lead the development of a new centralised structure to combat and reduce the threat of gambling addiction, currently impacting an estimated 138,000 problem gamblers and 1.3 million engaging in moderate or low-risk gambling.

On the industry’s concern, Menmuir said: “The NHS got what it asked for, it wanted to be chief commissioner and it wanted a clear detachment from gaming and that was granted by the government.

“It’s under pressure to feedback figures on what is a very hard addiction to determine and process. I think the anxiety is going to be felt this year and it’s going to be a critical phase between the industry and its wider relationship with political organisations such as the NHS and the Gambling Commission.”

Late-year M&A movements

Elsewhere in the episode, the duo also discussed lottery giant Allwyn International striking a €327m deal to acquire a 51% stake in Novibet.

According to the dealmakers, the acquisition will strengthen Allwyn’s position in online sports betting and gaming markets, in line with its strategy of acquisitions in “products, technologies and content to support its growth”.

This deal follows a busy end to 2024 for M&A in Europe and Menmuir suggested that this latest move was borne from Allwyn’s need to respond to market pressures and no longer solely rely on lottery.

“Even with the larger conglomerates, as we have seen with [Française des Jeux], there is a pressure to participate in every market related to gambling,” he explained.

“I think Allwyn sees that and it decided to strike on NoviBet. These deals are to be engaged with and change the strategy and outlook of these companies and I think it does that for Allwyn.”

Looking ahead to what can be expected in 2025, Menmuir concluded by saying that he believes brands with market share in mature markets, such as the UK, Italy, France and Spain, will be “up for grabs” by bigger conglomerates.