by Anton Johan
In a statement issued recently regarding the termination of
its funding agreement with the gambling fundraising body, the GREaT Foundation,
the Responsible Gambling Fund pointed out that it had given notice that it was
terminating the funding agreement that it had in place with the foundation.
This is contrary to previous reports appearing in the media that the GREaT
Foundation cancelled the agreement with the RGF.
The statement issued by the RGF said that its "trustees found that the
tri-partite arrangement set up after the review of research, education and
treatment of problem gambling in 2008 to be unworkable and that they were unable
to operate with the degree of independence consistent with their governance
documents and their duties under charity law."
The tri-partite agreement refers to an agreement that was established after a
2008 Gambling Commission Review. This agreement came in place of powers
afforded in the Gambling Act to create a statutory levy on the UK gambling
industry in order to facilitate the funding of research, education and treatment
of problem gambling in the country.
The RGF became fully operational last year and was set up to distribute funds
for these services in the gambling field, but independent of the gambling
industry.
The GREaT Foundation raises money through voluntary donations made by
entities in the gambling industry, which are then passed on to the Responsible
Gambling Fund in order to fund the research and treatment of problem gambling.
GREat Urged to Honour Commitments
In the statement issued by the RGF, the group said that its
trustees and staff are already planning how to operate between now and the end
of March next year when the agreement terminates.
"We will be talking to GREaT about how to manage the current
grants and and contracts," it said. "We have made commitments that extend over a
number of years and we urge the industry led raising body to honour these. GREaT
have already told us that they will give us their help and support in making the
best possible continuing arrangements for our beneficiaries."
