BGC flags up results of Safer Gambling Week 2024
Over 1.5m unique player accounts used a safer gambling tool, a rise of 22 per cent year-on-year.
UK.- The gambling industry lobby group The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has reported numbers from UK Safer Gambling Week 2024. It says that over 1.5m unique player accounts used a safer gambling tool during the week, which ran from November 18 to 24. That’s a 22 per cent year-on-year increase.
The number of deposit limits set during the campaign increased by 14 per cent compared to the previous year’s Safer Gambling Week, with 47 per cent of players setting deposit limits for the first time. Meanwhile, the week saw the delivery of 7.2m safer gambling messages to punters, a 10 per cent rise on 2023.
New records were set on social media too, with the campaign generating over 60 million impressions across X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, a 21 per cent increase on Safer Gambling Week 2023.
Safer Gambling Week is an annual cross-sector initiative bringing together the UK and Irish regulated betting and gaming industry, including bookmakers, amusement arcades, bingo clubs, casinos and online gaming operators, with charities and stakeholders to encourage safe and responsible play. The BGC highlighted the support of cross-party MPs and peers including Minister for Gambling Baroness Twycross and shadow sport and gambling minister Louie French.
Among the well-known football clubs to support Safer Gambling Week 2024 were Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Southampton. The campaign also generated over half a million visits to the Safer Gambling Week website, which signposts help and advice for those who may be struggling, as well as offering advice on safer gambling tools like deposit limits and time outs.
BGC CEO Grainne Hurst said: “Safer Gambling Week has proved its worth once again by making a real impact encouraging even more punters to make the most of the broad range of safer gambling tools only available in the regulated sector.
“These new figures are a testament to its ongoing success, and this industry’s commitment to raising standards and ensuring the millions of customers who enjoy a regular flutter, do so in a safe and responsible environment.
“Our members promote safer gambling every day of the year, but a single dedicated week, bringing together the whole sector with support from MPs, peers, the regulator and other stakeholders, promotes that work in a uniquely powerful way.”
Response to UK gaming tax proposals
Meanwhile, the BGC has set out its opposition to a new proposal from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for a unified tax framework for remote gambling.
The proposal would integrate three separate tax categories – Remote Gaming Duty, General Betting Duty, and Pool Betting Duty – into a new single category termed Remote Betting and Gaming Duty (RBGD). The government says the aim is to simplify the tax system for both the HMRC and stakeholders and to acknowledge the growing prominence of online gambling.
There’s no mention in the consultation of what the new unified tax rate would be, but the BGC is preempting the possibility that it would be the same level as Remote Gaming Duty, potentially representing a higher cost for operators that currently pay General Betting Duty.
