Gamstop on UK university tour
The gambling self-exclusion service is working with YGAM and RecoverMe.
UK.- The gambling self-exclusion service Gamstop is on a university tour of the UK together with the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) and the mobile help app, RecoverMe. The tour aims to provide education and raise awareness of gambling harm among students and academic staff.
Those who attend the events will receive information on gambling harm and will have the chance to speak with experts about their own experiences. YGAM will provide free training to university staff and student union officers and will promote its Student Hub website, which provides advice.
The tour takes in the English universities Worcester, Central Lancashire, Northumbria, Bournemouth, Sheffield, Lincoln and Stoke-on-Trent. Meanwhile, 18 institutions in Scotland will be visited by the Scottish Gambling Education Network.
Earlier in the year, GamStop and YGAM reported on research by Censuswide that found that 80 per cent of 2,000 students had gambled and 41 per cent admitted that gambling had a negative impact on their university experience. Some 19 per cent said they had used their student loan to gamble.
GamStop chief executive Fiona Palmer said: “The Gambling Support University Tour has been a great success and is an important initiative for all the organisations taking part.
“Gambling-related harm on our campuses is a subject that is rarely addressed, but for any students experiencing problems with their gambling, self-exclusion is one of the most important tools available, giving them valuable breathing space whilst they seek additional help.”
YGAM director of external affairs Daniel Bliss said: “The popularity of the tour so far shows us that gambling harm is clearly an issue that universities are more conscious of.
“Universities offer support to their students on a variety of issues ranging from alcohol, drugs and debt. We believe gambling should be given the same level of focus and this tour is helping to increase awareness and understanding.”
In July, GamStop reported that it registered 43,500 new users in the first six months of 2022. That takes the total number of registrations it has processed since it launched in April 2018 to more than 300,000.
The first six months of 2022 saw an average of 7,000 registrations per month, up 9 per cent year-on-year. The service normally sees more registrations in winter, but this year reported more registrations in the second quarter than in the first.
Earlier in the year, GamStop was awarded best Data for Good Initiative at the 2022 British Data Awards. The scheme was commended for its use of data to prevent problem gamblers from continuing to use betting sites.
