UK, Ireland: Betting and Gaming Council, BACTA, and Bingo Association Support Safer Gaming Week

The Safer Gambling Week for responsible gambling will run November 19-25, with the support of all Betting and Gaming Council’s members across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Customer Protection Initiative

The Safer Gambling Week started on November 19 and will run until Wednesday next week. Supported by all members of the Betting and Gaming Council across the UK and Ireland, the initiative supports safe gambling and aims to discuss ways to handle gambling responsibly with customers, companies, and organizations.

The UK and Ireland’s gaming industry actors, which includes amusement arcades, bingo clubs, sportsbook and casino operators, and online betting companies have pledged to support the yearly event.

The event is led by the Betting and Gaming Council, the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (BACTA), and the Bingo Association, with partners Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust  (YGAM) and GamCare, national gambling support charities.

In an article for iGaming Business, Daniel Bliss, the Head of External Affairs at YGAM, said customer protection should be a priority for the gaming industry, particularly during the pandemic.

Investors, companies, and government agencies must focus on supporting problem gamblers and others affected. The UK and Ireland currently offer an array of established networks resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery of problem gambling, as well as research on the impact of gambling based on gender, age, lifestyle and social situation.

YGAM is an education charity founded by people affected by gambling, and a partner of the Betting and Gaming Council during the Safe Gambling Week. The organization provides tools and resources to better understand and combat the negative impact of gambling on youth. Mr. Bliss said he believed operators could improve their player protection measures with the study of gambling harm through data on lived experience.

YGAM Launches Education Programs

Alongside Betknowmore, YGAM has launched its Safer Gambling Training for casino and sports betting operators, which it will promote this week.

It is a “digital learning programme to provide gambling industry employees with specialist online training to strengthen player protection standards and effectively safeguard consumers from gambling-related harm,” Mr. Bliss said, “the resources have been developed using a methodology known as ‘flipped learning’ derived from Neuroscience studies on how the brain learns.”

The digital training program has received funding from various “regulatory settlements”, and follows Gambling Commission’s most recent LCCP requirements.

Mr. Bliss said YGAM is working to deliver its “Young People’s Gambling Harm Prevention Programme” with partner GamCare and the support of the Betting & Gaming Council’s members.

The organization’s teams have been working on speeding up the development of educational resources and training more people during the lockdown, as the current situation requires increased efforts towards player protection.

New Safe Gambling Initiatives Across The UK

Football Index will donate £5,000 to support the work done by the charity fund. The regulatory gaming platform launched earlier this year its new Gambling Awareness Initiative with Nottingham Forest Football Club, which focuses on educating local football supporters and promoting safe gambling practices.

YGAM is also working with the National Union for Students (NUS), currently representing about seven million students, in protecting youth impacted by Covid-19. Their new Student Hub website aims to support students to enjoy university life, away from problem gambling-related issues.