BETTING AND GAMING INDUSTRY UNITES AGAIN FOR SAFER GAMBLING WEEK 2023

This year’s Safer Gambling Week event will run from 13th – 19th November 2023 and will see the whole industry coming together to further promote safer gambling messages, highlight the tools available to customers to stay in control and the support available to those who need it.

Organised by the BGC, BACTA, the Lotteries Council and The Bingo Association, Safer Gambling Week is now in its sixth year, and will once again see a blitz of safer gambling messages both online and in land-based venues, to spark a nationwide conversation about betting responsibly.

Analysis of last year’s successful campaign in October revealed around 200,000 accounts set deposit limits during this month, an increase of 12.5 per cent compared to the same month the year previous.

Meanwhile, 61 per cent of players setting deposit limits, did so for the first time.

And the number of players actively using reality checks - on-screen alerts tracking how long customers are playing - rose by an astonishing 300 per cent.

Safer Gambling Week also smashed previous social media records, generating nearly 30 million impressions on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, a 21 per cent increase on 2021.

Michael Dugher, Chief Executive of the BGC, said: “Safer Gambling Week is now an established annual event in the industry’s calendar, doing vital work promoting the safer gambling tools only available in the regulated betting and gaming sector and signposting help to those that need it.

“All the recent data confirms what we already knew, that rates of problem gambling are consistently low, which is brilliant news, but Safer Gambling Week is an example of the regulated industry’s determination to keep raising standards. A recent Gambling Commission report showed that the problem gambling rate in the year to March 2023 was 0.3 per cent.

“BGC members demonstrate their commitment to safer gambling every day through initiatives such as the whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting commercials during live sport pre-watershed and offering a wide range of tools for use by punters.

“It’s great to see that year-round commitment promoted and publicised so successfully in a single week – I know Safer Gambling Week 2023 will be another huge success.”

Miles Baron, Chief Executive of the Bingo Association, said: “The Bingo Association has been firmly behind Safer Gambling Week ever since the campaign started. Whilst it is important to act responsibly all year round, I think bringing the whole gambling sector together for one week to raise awareness  of safer gambling through Safer Gambling Week is definitely the right thing to do and is still a hugely positive initiative.”

John White, Chief Executive of Bacta, said: “Safer Gambling is at the forefront of what Bacta members ‘do’ on a daily basis. I’m delighted to say that we continue to make significant advances in delivering a safer gambling experience and helping to reduce further the extremely small number of consumers who do experience problems to their current record low levels.

“Safer Gambling Week shines a light on the measures and processes that are in place to help keep low stake low prize gambling entertainment an activity that’s enjoyed by millions of people the length and breadth of the country.”

Last year’s event was supported by a large number of cross-party senior MPs and peers, including then DCMS minister responsible for betting and gaming Damian Collins MP, and several shadow ministers including Shadow DCMS Secretary Lucy Powell MP. The event was also supported by DCMS and the Gambling Commission.

Safer Gambling Week provides an opportunity to encourage businesses and organisations to start a conversation on responsible betting, not only with staff and customers, but also with their friends and family.

Regulated betting and gaming operators already work tirelessly all year round to promote safer gambling, including by encouraging the use of deposit limits and time-outs, as well as directing customers to the range of self-exclusion services that exist. Hundreds of thousands of people are signing up to use these tools each month.

These tools do not exist in the growing unsafe, unregulated gambling black market. The numbers betting on these sites have doubled in recent years and the amounts staked is in the billions.

Around 22.5 million UK adults enjoy a bet each month, whether it’s buying a lottery ticket, having a game of bingo, visiting a casino, playing online or having a wager on football, horseracing and other sports.

The regulated betting and gaming industry contributes £7.1bn to the economy, generates £4.2bn in tax, and supports 110,000 jobs.