GambleAware recommissions Scottish Gambling Education Hub

The charity GambleAware has recommissioned the Scottish Gambling Education Hub for another three years.

UK.- The responsible gambling charity GambleAware has recommissioned Edinburgh-based youth charity Fast Forward to run the Scottish Gambling Education Hub (SGEH). The hub has been delivering gambling harm and addiction awareness courses in Scotland since 2018.

GambleAware will continue to provide grant funding to Fast Forward to support young people and raise awareness of gambling harm. The hub has trained staff from more than 550 different organisations in Scotland, including schools, colleges, universities, youth work and family services.

In 2019, it created the Scottish Gambling Education Network (SGEN) bringing together people from different sectors to share best practices, provide support and help improve gambling education and prevention provision. The hub will host a national conference in 2022.

Dr Jane Rigbye, prevention director at GambleAware, said: “The Scottish Education Hub has engaged with young people, parents, the community and youth workers in an impactful and creative way to deliver unique projects over the years.

“We are delighted to support them further in their prevention and education work and look forward to publishing the independent evaluation of the project for their work in 2022.”

Fast Forward CEO Allie Cherry-Byrnes said: “Fast Forward’s work supports young people to make informed choices regarding risk-taking behaviours, towards positive life-long health outcomes.

“Gambling has become normalised in our communities, with many young people affected by their own gambling, or by the gambling of a parent, carer, or family member.”

Earlier this month, GambleAware named four new trustees: Baroness Hilary Armstrong, Marine Gibbs, Mubin Haq and Dr Koravangattu Valsraj. It also reported increased awareness of the National Gambling Treatment Service (NGTS) following new campaigns.