GambleAware seeks members for Lived Experience Council

The gambling industry-supported charity will add two new members to the group.

UK.- The charity GambleAware has begun seeking two new members for its Lived Experience Council (LEC), which it launched in December. The group consists of people who have been affected by gambling harm. It’s intended that their experience will help inform the charity’s work in the area.

The LEC is to have 12 members, including its chair, Ben Howard, but two seats are vacant. Applications are now open, with GambleAware keen to attract people disproportionately affected by gambling harms or from underrepresented groups.

It’s particularly interested in applications from younger adults aged 18 to 25, Welsh residents, members of minority communities, people with a disability and those from socially excluded groups.

Howard said: “With the launch of two seats on the Lived Experience Council, I can’t express enough how fantastic it is to be involved in the strategic development of GambleAware, which brings together a range of voices from those with lived experience and those affected by another person’s gambling.

“We have made great strides since forming and are excited to engage and welcome two new members to assist us in this vital work going forward and we hope to see representation of all communities on the Council. 

“GambleAware are committed to the voices, development and expertise lived experience brings to achieving its mission to prevent and tackle gambling harms.”

Earlier this month, GambleAware reported that it would distribute £1.2m from its Community Resilience Fund to 22 organisations supporting individuals and communities affected by gambling harms. The initiative was launched last year as a response to the cost-of-living crisis. It invited organisations to submit applications for grants of up to £100,000 to help disadvantaged communities affected by health inequality.

In January, GambleAware published a list of the donations and pledges it received from Q1 to Q3 in its current financial year. The organisation received £13.2m in donations and no funds from regulatory settlements.

Donations from GambleAware’s two biggest donors in the period, bet365 and Entain, accounted for 90 per cent of all funding received at £4.9m and £7m respectively. Other British-licensed operators accounted for the remaining 10 per cent of funds, with several smaller operators donating the minimum £250.