GambleAware invests £2.5m to expand Gambling Education Hub Service
The charity is expanding its Gambling Education Hub Service across England and Wales.
UK.- The gaming industry-based charity funding body GambleAware has invested £2.5m to expand The Gambling Education Hub Service (GEHS) across England and Wales after a pilot in Scotland.
It’s made the investment in the form of a grant to the safer gambling charity GamCare, which is developing the service with YGAM and the Adferiad Recovery.
GEHS aims to help prevent gambling harm among young people via education and early intervention. Some 3,000 professionals and volunteers took part in the Scottish pilot, after which 92 per cent of practitioners said they felt confident identifying signs of gambling harm. That compared to 35 per cent before their training.
Meanwhile, more than 8-in-10 young participants said that they were more aware of the consequences of gambling and 84 per cent were confident they knew where to go for support.
GambleAware CEO Zoë Osmond said: “At a time when young people are increasingly exposed to gambling, the delivery of local-focused programs for gambling education and prevention of harms has never been more important.
“We hope to see the positive short-term impacts from the Scottish Education Hub’s activities replicated in our newly commissioned English and Welsh Education Hubs, and we are excited to have awarded this grant to these two highly experienced organisations.”
Gamcare will work with YGAM, ARA, Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca in England and Adferiad Recovery in Wales.
Chief executive Anna Hemmings said: “We are looking forward to building on the successes of our work with young people, their parents and professionals in a new programme aimed at increasing visibility of both local and national education and support, and to working with GambleAware and our partners towards our shared aspiration of reducing gambling-related harms for young people.
“We are delighted to be receiving this grant to deliver gambling education hubs across England. We work in collaboration with a number of organisations who bring unparalleled experience of working with young people around these issues, including; Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), Addiction Recovery Agency (ARA), Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca, to deliver Education Hubs across England.”
Leon Marsh, Director of Hospital & Residential Services at Adferiad Recovery, said: “We look forward to working with GambleAware on this great initiative to help reduce gambling-related harm caused to young people and to provide comprehensive training, education and resources to key stakeholders to reduce the risks associated with gambling addiction.
“We were delighted to hear that we had been selected to be the providers of Wales’s Gambling Education Hub and are looking forward to replicating the success of the project currently being undertaken in Scotland.
“Our extensive knowledge and experience in young people services puts us in a good position to be able to effectively deliver this project in Wales, and we are excited to be able to offer young people this valuable service.”
Zoe Osmond renews call for mandatory levy on gambling operators
In February, Osmond renewed her call for the British government to introduce a mandatory levy on gambling operators to fund problem gambling research, education and treatment. Restating a call that GambleAware made in its submission to the government’s ongoing review of gambling legislation, she said current voluntary programmes are no longer fit for purpose.
Osmond’s call follows reports GambleAware will no longer be able to work with the British National Health Service (NHS).
