The Gambling Commission has confirmed that the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) will be closed following the completion of its original remit.
Created to provide oversight of the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms, ABSG has been central to embedding public health thinking and lived experience perspectives into the Commission's approach.
With the strategy concluded and the statutory levy now in place, the Commission says it is moving to a new phase in which research and enforcement will be prioritised.
From strategy to levy: why ABSG's role has ended
Established as an oversight body, ABSG helped shape some of the most significant developments in UK gambling regulation over the past decade.
Among its contributions were the recognition of gambling harms as a public health issue, the establishment of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel to ensure voices of those directly affected were included in regulation and support for the creation of a statutory levy to fund independent research, education and treatment.
With those milestones reached, the Commission has decided the time is right to close ABSG.
"ABSG has played an important role in shaping how we think about gambling harms," said Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the Commission.
"As we move into a new phase with the implementation of research programmes funded by the statutory levy, our priority is to ensure we have the right expert input to help inform our work."
Helen Child, Head of Governance also stressed that ABSG members had made "a huge contribution to gambling regulation and the Commission".
A pivot toward research and evidence
The Commission has said it will now establish a new research-focused expert group, what reflects a pivot toward generating evidence, supported by levy funding, to guide regulation in the years ahead.
The importance of such research was underscored earlier this year when the Commission published its first report on the illegal gambling market in Britain.
The report highlighted the risks posed by unlicensed operators, including inadequate safeguards, lack of affordability checks and threats to consumer protection.
By quantifying the scale of the market and its harms, the Commission sought to underline why levy-funded research and targeted interventions are critical at this stage of regulation.
Local enforcement and high street oversight
Another strand of the Commission's recent activity has been urging local authorities to take a more active role in monitoring and enforcing standards around high street gambling venues.
The closure of ABSG therefore coincides with a redirection of energy and resources toward evidence-gathering, monitoring and direct enforcement.
Implications for operators and stakeholders
For operators, the closure of ABSG removes one advisory layer but increases the importance of engaging with new research structures and levy programmes.
With the Commission sharpening its focus on illegal markets, local oversight and lived experience, companies can expect greater scrutiny of their compliance practices, their role in protecting vulnerable customers and their cooperation with regulators at both national and local levels.
Stakeholders across health, academia and consumer advocacy are also likely to be brought into closer alignment with the Commission's research group, given the levy's funding mandate.
The regulator has indicated it wants "the right expert input" to help shape its programmes, which is a sign that expertise will be pulled directly into the regulatory framework rather than channelled through an advisory board.
The Gambling Commission often receives criticism from the industry, often from anti-gambling critics. But, in recent years, it has been praised for engaging with the industry far more
