The UK Gambling Commission has confirmed it will close the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) after the board completed its original mission. The group was set up to advise on the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms and provide independent challenge along the way. With that strategy now finished, the Commission says its focus is shifting to new research projects supported by levy funding.

• The Gambling Commission ABSG was created to oversee the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms. Its role was to bring in expert advice and challenge to strengthen the strategy’s delivery. Now that the work is complete, the Commission is moving on to fresh structures that match the next phase of regulation.

• The board played a big part in framing gambling harms as a public health issue. It also ensured that people with lived experience were included in decision-making. This led to the creation of the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).

• ABSG helped back the introduction of the statutory levy, which will fund research, education and treatment independently of industry influence. The levy will provide stable, long-term resources for tackling gambling harms. The Commission says it will now build a research-focused expert group to make use of this funding.

• Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes thanked current and former ABSG members for their work. He said the board had shaped how gambling harms are understood and brought lived experience into regulation. “This is the right time to close ABSG and establish new arrangements that reflect the future needs of our gambling regulation and research,” he said.

• Helen Child, head of governance at the Commission, also praised the group’s role. She said members had provided insight, engagement and challenge throughout their time. She added that the closure reflects the natural end of its remit.

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