GamCare

GamCare was founded in 1997 and is a registered UK charity. It operates as the leading national provider of free information, advice, and counselling for gambling problems in Great Britain. GamCare also administers the National Gambling Helpline on behalf of GambleAware.

Beyond crisis support, GamCare delivers a practitioner training programme for professionals working with gambling-affected individuals, and works with regulatory and industry bodies on safer gambling standards and harm prevention research.

GamCare's treatment services are delivered through a national network of local services — the GamCare Forum — as well as directly through the helpline and online channels. NHS gambling treatment clinics often work alongside GamCare services.

UKGC-licensed operators are required by licence condition to direct customers to GamCare and display the GamCare logo prominently on their platforms. GamCare input also shapes the UKGC's social responsibility code provisions, particularly around customer interaction standards and the design of self-exclusion and limit-setting tools. The National Gambling Helpline data also feeds into the evidence base the UKGC uses when reviewing operator compliance and identifying sector-wide concerns.

Under the 2023 Gambling Act Review white paper, expanded NHS gambling treatment clinics and a statutory levy on operators are expected to significantly increase the total resource available for services like GamCare. GamCare is a primary beneficiary of increased statutory levy funding, enabling expansion of both its helpline and direct treatment services.

GamCare provides structured counselling and therapy for individuals experiencing gambling-related harm, available through the National Gambling Helpline, the online GamCare chat service, and a national network of local treatment providers accessed through the GamCare Forum. Treatment modalities include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, financial guidance, and specialist support for young people, women, and affected family members — groups that have historically been underserved by gambling support services.

The GamCare Forum is a peer support community integrated into the support pathway, offering moderated online discussion for individuals in recovery and those newly seeking help. The forum complements one-to-one treatment by providing a community of people sharing their experiences of gambling harm — an approach supported by evidence on the role of social connection in sustained behaviour change for addictive disorders.

Alongside direct consumer services, GamCare runs an accreditation programme for gambling businesses — the GamCare Safer Gambling Standard — which assesses operators against responsible gambling criteria beyond those mandated by the UKGC alone. Accreditation under this programme signals to regulators and consumers that an operator takes safer gambling seriously as a business priority, not merely as a compliance obligation.

GamCare also operates Gambling Therapy (gamblingtherapy.org), an internationally accessible free online support service covering countries where national helplines do not exist or are unavailable to the individual. This extends GamCare's reach significantly beyond Great Britain, providing the same evidence-based support framework to a global audience affected by gambling harm in any jurisdiction.