BGC hails increased use of safer gambling tools
The lobby links the rise to Safer Gambling Week, although it’s not clear that there’s any connection.
UK.- The Betting and Gaming Council has highlighted a rise in engagement with safer gambling tools and messaging in 2025. The lobby group says that some 281,000 deposit limits were set by 153,960 account holders between November 17 and 23, 2025, – a 41 per cent increase in comparison with the same period in the previous year.
The period in question was Safer Gambling Week, and the BGC is suggesting that the industry-backed initiative played a role in the increased use of the tools. It’s not clear that this was the case since no comparison is made with the number of deposit limits set at other times of the year, an oversight that could easily lead to criticism from gambling opponents amid complaints about a sometimes vague use of statistics in industry lobbying.
That said, figures show that Safer Gambling Week received more industry participation than in previous years. The BGC says the number of safer gambling messages sent to customers during the initiative in 2025 was 75 per cent higher than in 2024, reaching 10.95 million. This figure includes messages delivered across all possible channels, including pop-ups, direct messages and personal emails.
The BGC says last year’s campaign also saw a substantial increase in investment from operators, with total spend on safer gambling advertising rising by 68 per cent. It says online impressions from related adverts increased by 27 per cent to 182m. The initiative was also backed by a record number of senior cross-party MPs and peers including Gambling Minister Baroness Twycross, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Nigel Huddleston MP, and Shadow Gambling Minister Louie French MP, the BGC said.
Grainne Hurst, Chief Executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, said: “Safer Gambling Week has once again demonstrated the positive impact this campaign can have in encouraging even more customers to make use of the wide range of safer gambling tools available only in the regulated sector.
“These record-breaking figures underline the industry’s ongoing commitment to raising standards and ensuring the millions of people who enjoy a regular flutter do so in a safe and responsible environment. At a time when the illegal harmful black market poses a growing threat to player safety, it is vital that customers remain in the regulated market, where robust safer gambling measures and protections are available.
“Our members promote safer gambling every single day of the year, but bringing the whole regulated sector together for one dedicated week – with support from MPs, peers, the regulator, and other stakeholders – helps amplify those messages further than ever before.”
The BGC recently claimed that the amount staked with illegal gambling operators in Britain has risen to over £16bn. That would represent a two-fold increase in just two years, and a three-fold increase from 2019. However, the Gambling Commission has said that it has seen no evidence of a rise in engagement with unlicensed gambling.
Meanwhile, the BGC recently appointed Kane Purdy, Managing Director at Gamesys Operations, as its new non-executive chair. He replaces Michael Dugher, who stepped down in January after just under two years in the role.
