In a sector beset by criticism, there is some good news for UK gambling businesses in the news that two safer gambling charities, GamCare and Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), have surpassed their targets in their first year of operation.
The charities are tasked with delivering programmes to reduce and prevent gambling harms to young people in the UK. As part of a four-year country-wide programme the charities are supported by the industry’s collective voice, the Betting and Gaming Council, to deliver support and education to young people in England, Northern Island, Scotland, and Wales.
The programme is designed to give young people evidence-led education and training programmes that help them keep safe if they do gamble.
YGAM has trained 2,906 practitioners in 2020, despite repeated shutdowns during the global COVID 19 pandemic, in which the UK has suffered more than perhaps any other country. The charity was tasked with hitting a target of 2,592 trained practitioners. These outreach workers should be able to provide safe gambling education to nearly 200,000 youngsters in the UK.
GamCare had similar success. They trained 4,185 people who work with young people and delivered workshops and information sessions to 3,947 youngsters. This overshot targets by almost 3,000 people within just 10 months of the first year of this programme.
All work was switched online because of the pandemic. The YGAM leadership says that this may actually have helped deliver more programmes by removing barriers.
YGAM founder and CEO Lee Willows said:
“Now that the delivery is entirely digital, we have removed enormous barriers which may have prevented some individuals and organisations from taking part. The result is a truly national programme, which is set to continue its fantastic growth in the following years.”
GamCare CEO Anna Hemmings added:
“I am particularly proud of the team considering the circumstances in which this has been achieved.”
GamCare now also supplies a dedicated support service for young people.
It is illegal in the UK to offer gambling products without a licence from the UK Gambling Commission. Among the conditions under which the industry operates are duties to help customers stay safe: this includes providing support for problem gamblers as well as tools to help people stay out of trouble.
Every gambling website should offer its customers easy access to safe gambling advice and links to gambling support charities. They should also provide tools that allow players to exclude themselves or limit their spending or gambling time.
It is illegal for anyone in the UK aged under 18 to gamble.
While the industry is working hard to provide safe services, the spectre of a major review of gambling legislation hangs over it. The industry was liberalised by the 2005 Gambling Act, but in recent years the explosion of online gambling has brought a new set of concerns into the public domain. The government is under pressure to clamp down on a lucrative industry – it has just been announced that two of the UK’s top three individual taxpayers are gambling businesses bosses – that is busy lobbying against changes that are too restrictive.
Players will be watching the news closely, but everyone can be pleased that young people are getting good quality education and advice on safe gambling.
