Two bookies have pledged to fund a place for a Jersey resident at a UK gambling treatment centre amid an ongoing need for dedicated local support services.

Published today, the Jersey Gambling Commission Annual Report 2024 revealed that Ladbrokes and William Hill have committed to co-fund a place at a UK residential treatment service for gambling, if it is required by a Jersey resident.

It comes amid ongoing calls for dedicated on-island support.

In the report’s foreword, chair Advocate Cyril Whelan said: “Not a year goes by without my having to comment on the need for specialist problem gambling treatment in the island.”

He confirmed that the Commission has been in continued discussions with the Health Department about this.

Advocate Whelan said he had written to the Health Minister to ask whether joint progress could be made, despite the competing demands on the department, or whether the Commission should continue supporting individuals on a case-by-case basis.

“We await a definitive answer,” he noted.

He added that the Commission would continue its efforts to promote understanding of gambling-related harm, provide support, and, in the most serious cases, arrange treatment through external providers.

Not a year goes by without my having to comment on the need for specialist problem gambling treatment in the island

Advocate Cyril Whelan, Jersey Gambling Commission chair

Advocate Whelan said it was “heartening” to receive feedback from officers suggesting the pathologies underlying compulsive gambling, and the associated potentials for harm, are being increasingly recognised by government.

The Gambling Commission chair noted that individuals presenting in crisis are treated through Jersey’s Health Department, but raised concerns about missed opportunities to provide support for those who may not know where to turn.

Advocate Whelan added: “Even taking this into account, I continue to fear that we are missing an opportunity to provide structure and security for those people who may not know how to access support and who, consequently, may progress further into difficulty than might have been the case if there was a publicly promoted route to treatment.”

There were plans to work with an overseas specialist to treat problem gamblers in Jersey, but the project fell through three years ago.

In the Commission’s 2023 annual report, Advocate Whelan wrote: “Last year, the Commission came within days of signing a contract with a major overseas treatment specialist to establish a service, when the other party undertook a strategic review and changed course, choosing to focus on its domestic work.

“This was a cruel blow after expending a significant amount of time and money getting to what looked like the finish line, only to have the prize snatched away at the last moment.”

The most recent annual report confirmed that plans for the Social Responsibility Fund – made up of money collected from gambling companies in to help reduce the harm caused by gambling – are now being “reformulated” to consider its best use.

Elsewhere in the report, Commission CEO Dr Jason Lane wrote: “The focus on reducing gambling harm has never been stronger, even if avenues for assistance remain few, and the balance of regulation has become better targeted upon commercial operations and based on sound principles.

“The outlook for further change and improvement remains good.”