This morning, the group published its annual report for 2021-22, covering the 12 months ending 31 March 2022, revealing that the amount of callers to its helpline had reached a record high of 42,070.

GamCare also pointed to the impact of the costs of living crisis and shaky economic conditions, as well as general political and industry uncertainty as stakeholders continue to await the several-times-delayed Gambling Act review outcome.

Anna Hemmings, GamCare CEO, said: “While 2021-22 has been characterised by continuing uncertainty, coming out of lockdown and the Gambling Act White Paper delayed further, what we’ve seen from our data is an increasing demand for GamCare’s services.

“In this context, our teams have demonstrated incredible resilience and agility, offering a more diverse range of support than ever before to support people with gambling harm.”

Regarding driving factors behind issues, GamCare found that financial difciutlites were cited as a cause by 32% of the 7,500 service users who responded when asked about this.

On the other hand, chasing losses was the biggest factor at 64%, followed by escapism and boredom at 33% each. GamCare maintains, however, that many bettors are experiencing financial trouble, with 62% of surveyed players reported fiscal difficulties, 

Additionally, 57% disclosed having built up debt due to gambling, and 46% of ‘affected others’ – such as relatives of problem gamblers – also reported financial difficulties.

The report also found a geographic disparity in terms of experienced problem gambling and associated harm, with the North West, South East, East of England and London accounting for 62% of those accessing treatment. 

“Looking forward, with rising costs now impacting people, we know that many who rely on our service will be affected and are monitoring this closely,” Hemmings concluded.

“Last year almost one-third of people who contacted our Helpline cited financial difficulties as the reason they initially chose to gamble. However, after their experiences of gambling, this figure jumps to three in four people who say they experience financial difficulties now as a result of it. 

“We know that gambling should not be seen as a financial opportunity, we are here for anyone struggling with their gambling through the cost-of-living crisis.”

Lastly, the number of people receiving treatment declined ‘slightly’ from 2020-21, standing at 9,728 people, whilst a gender imbalance saw 70% of helpline callers identify as men and 30% as women.

Post-March developments have seen GamCare announce the trial of the ‘Way Forward’ programme aimed specifically at female problem gamblers – who its report noted, as mentioned above, comprise around a third of those seeking help.

Additionally, the charity is also launching a package which would enable betting businesses to transfer safer gambling calls straight to the National Gambling Helpline, which it believes will assist operators in meeting updated UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) requirements.

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The expansion of the hub, which is primarily for practitioners, educators and youth workers, follows an independent evaluation of the GambleAware commissioned Scottish Gambling Education Hub by IFF, which is said to have led to “dramatic improvements” in gambling harms and awareness and understanding. 

Concluding its evaluation, IFF found that the Hub improved knowledge and awareness of youth gambling harms and gambling education among practitioners, and reached over 15,800 young people.

Zoë Osmond, CEO at GambleAware, said: “At a time when young people are increasingly exposed to gambling, the delivery of local focused programmes 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.

“As the lead commissioner working to prevent gambling harms, GambleAware is committed to working with local organisations and stakeholders to fund and establish tailored, best-practice prevention programmes. 

“With young people in the UK now growing up being widely exposed to gambling marketing and advertising, these projects represent a meaningful step towards delivering a society where all children and young people are protected from the risks of gambling related harms.”

Following a competitive tender process, the grant to operate the hubs in England has been won by GamCare, in partnership with Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust, Addiction Recovery Agency, Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca, whilst Adferiad Recovery will carry out the work in Wales.

“We are delighted to be receiving this grant to deliver gambling education hubs across England,” explained Anna Hemmings, Chief Executive of GamCare.

“We work in collaboration with a number of organisations who bring unparalleled experience of working with young people around these issues.

“Both GamCare and our partners passionately believe that information on the risks associated with gambling and gaming should be a key part of young people’s education, gaining parity with other risky behaviours such as drugs and alcohol.    

“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.” 

The Hubs use early intervention and prevention methods to reduce gambling harms among children and young people, working holistically within local communities, to promote a safer environment – especially for those most at risk.

The results from the pilot period showed 92 per cent of practitioners from the Scottish Hub saying they felt confident in identifying the signs of gambling harm, compared to just 35 per cent pre-training. 

Furthermore, the Hubs also resulted in more than eight in 10 young people from the Scottish Hub saying they were more aware of the consequences of gambling and 84 per cent felt confident about where to turn to for support if needed.

The Scottish Hub delivered gambling education to almost 3,000 professionals and volunteers working with young people, as well as young people themselves, parents, and carers. 

GambleAware partnered with Scotland’s national youth work organisation Fast Forward to deliver the locally focused prevention programme. 

Leon Marsh, Director of Hospital & Residential Services at Adferiad Recovery, added: “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.”

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To mark Safer Gambling Week, which runs November 1-7, in collaboration with YouGov, GamCare recently asked 1,510 people who gamble at least once a year what they do to gamble safely. 

The results revealed that over a third – 39 per cent – of people noted that they stuck a spending limit to remain safe, and almost a quarter (23 per cent) said they avoid betting on fixed-odds machines. 

In addition to the aforementioned results, just over half (52 per cent) of people surveyed mentioned that they would only focus on “specific things such as certain sports or events”. 

“This week is Safer Gambling Week – an industry led initiative to raise the profile of safer gambling,” Hemmings explained. “At GamCare we often get asked what ‘safer’ means in this context.  I always reflect that for each of the 40,000 people we help every year, the answer can vary considerably. 

“We are led by the people who come to us for help and support, either for them or a loved one. Often by the time they reach out for help, safer could mean helping them navigate a life without gambling. 

“What is important during weeks like this is that we shine a light on gambling as a topic, the potential harms people can experience and the help and support that is available. 

“We want people to reach out to us earlier – we know many don’t recognise they have a problem, for others stigma prevents them reaching out – regardless of how their gambling impacts their quality of life.”  

Alongside the survey, GamCare are running the TalkBanStop campaign to encourage people to call The National Gambling Helpline and sign up to safer gambling tools. 

Of the campaign, GamCare’s CEO stated: “For those who want to stop, or have stopped gambling, tools like Gamstop, the national self-exclusion scheme, and Gamban, blocking software that prevents access to gambling sites from up to 15 devices, can be very effective. 

“These tools are not a panacea – but they offer a number of key benefits, including a belt and braces approach to preventing access to online gambling. But more than this they help create the space in which other activities to support recovery take place, and they help people feel both confident in and committed to addressing gambling problems. This in itself often brings peace of mind.”

Yet, despite players doing all they can to remain safe, the results from GamCare revealed that the public feel that the gambling businesses are not playing its part with only 28 per cent of respondents from its YouGov survey believing the industry are doing enough to “ensure customer play safely”.

Hemmings continued: “Everything we do at GamCare is informed by the experiences of those who reach out to us. We are taking part in a series of events throughout this week which allow us to place their stories at the heart of conversations about the risks around gambling, whilst raising awareness of our helpline and the range of support options that are available.”  

According to data from the National Gambling Treatment Service only a small number of people estimated to be harmed by gambling in Great Britain receive support, with three per cent of those people accessed support and treatment in 2019/20. 

Last year, more people reached out to us than ever before with a nine per cent increase in calls and chats, with our practitioners delivering over 55,000 treatment sessions and assessments – an increase of 14 per cent. 

Recent research from Kings College London, one of the largest studies of gambling treatment undertaken in recent years, shows that our treatment is effective, and that significant improvement can be seen in the first three treatment sessions.

Hemmings stressed that “there is still work to be done” to ensure the charity is known as “a first port of call” and urges anyone who is struggling with gambling to contact them.

She concluded: “Our helpline team works around the clock to support those experiencing gambling related harms. We know how difficult it can be to reach out for the first time and we want people to know that we are here and we can help. 

“Once people have made that first contact with us, we can find ways forward that suit the person and their circumstances. It’s that first step that often feels the hardest for people. So sometimes it is about giving people hope, and reassuring people that change is possible.”

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Releasing its Trustee’s Annual Review for 2020/21, GamCare stated that throughout the year, it has witnessed a nine per cent increase in calls and chats, with 42,000 answered. In addition, the charity saw a 14 per cent increase in treatment sessions and assessments, which rose to 55,000.

Also stipulated within the report, GamCare noted 95 per cent of National Gambling Helpline users would recommend the Helpline to someone else, and 100 per cent of service users would recommend the treatment services.

“Despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, this year we have reached more people than ever,” commented Anna Hemmings, chief executive of GamCare.

“For those harmed by gambling, this was a particularly challenging year, in which the isolation, stress and money worries may have been amplified by the pandemic. 

“We are proud of all our teams, who have shown great resilience throughout, and who have continued to demonstrate their passion and commitment to the work that we do. This meant GamCare was available 24/7, year-round, to offer support to people affected by gambling harms.  

“Over the next three years, we want to continue to raise awareness of the impact of gambling harms and expand our services to make lasting and positive changes.”

Furthermore, GamCare’s review highlighted that its overall income for the year totalled £13.4m, an increase from 2020’s income of £9.2m. The charity noted that a majority of its funding originates from GambleAware, which granted a total funding of £8.3m (2019/20: £7m).

As GamCare reaches the final year of the three-year strategy, the company highlighted key figures over the aforementioned period, revealing that it has supported over 100,000 people across the National Gambling Helpline, online, and treatment services, along with experiencing a ten per cent increase every year. 

Additionally, over three years, 70 per cent of service users successfully completed their treatment programmes. 

GamCare has worked with 35 gambling brands, across 13 businesses, who are working towards or have achieved the Safer Gambling Standard, an independent quality mark protecting people from experiencing gambling-related harm, by assessing gambling businesses.

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The findings are based on the regulator’s quarterly telephone survey conducted by Yonder Consulting. A nationally representative sample of 4,010 adults aged 16 and over were interviewed via telephone in September 2020, December 2020, March 2021 and June 2021.

The majority of the data for the year to June 2021 was collected during some element of lockdown or restricted activity level. 

Responding to the new statistics, Anna Hemmings, chief executive at GamCare, emphasised that the impact from the pandemic is ‘yet unclear’ as to whether it will be short-term or long. 

She said: “Online gambling is a growing issue for callers to the National Gambling Helpline and we want people to know we are here for them and can help.  

“The majority of people contacting us are gambling online and our helpline and treatment data shows this to be an area of concern for us and people that use our services. We know that people recovering from gambling harms can find it difficult to enjoy live sport. 

“Today’s figures do not cover the most recent Euro’s tournament, so we will continue to monitor for a potential rise in callers over the next few months, with many upcoming sports events over the summer and the reopening of betting shops and casinos, coupled with the difficulties people have experienced in the pandemic.

“We urge anyone who is struggling with gambling to contact us, whether it’s their own or someone else’s gambling. We understand, please get in touch.”

Moreover, the report revealed that overall participation in any gambling activity in the last four weeks has fallen to 42 per cent – a 3.5 per cent point decline compared to June 2020.

In addition, the overall problem gambling rate is ‘statistically stable’ at 0.4 per cent whilst moderate risk rate has decreased significantly to 0.7 per cent compared to 1.4 per cent in June 2020.

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This comes as the GamCare operated and GambleAware funded entity received in excess of 30,000 calls during 2018/9, a figure which is rising year on year.

Consisting of both a live chat and freephone channel, the National Gambling Helpline provides advice, information and support to those suffering from gambling related harm, whether their own or someone else’s.

Anna Hemmings, CEO at GamCare, explained: “It is important that treatment and support services reflect the availability of gambling. As such, we are delighted to be able to extend the hours of operation of the National Gambling Helpline to further support those affected by gambling related harm. 

“With the 24-hour nature of gambling, people sometimes feel at their most isolated overnight, when other support services are closed. They will now be able to reach our highly trained advisers 24 hours a day, who can offer immediate support, advice and referral to our network of treatment services nationally.”

The Gambling Commission estimates there are around 340,000 problem gamblers nationally, with up to two million at risk of developing an issue, with the extended hours necessary to reflect the need for added availability and support.

Helpline advisers respond to caller’s needs, giving them space to listen and explore their issues in confidence. Advisers can provide support online, by telephone and, should people need, can also connect callers with local treatment services.

“GambleAware is responsible for commissioning the National Gambling Helpline, which is a core element of an emerging National Gambling Treatment Service,” noted Marc Etches, CEO of GambleAware. 

“Our priority is to keep people safe and to ensure support services are easily accessible. As such, we are pleased to be funding an extension to the helpline’s operating hours, and we will evaluate its performance over time.”

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Getting underway on Thursday 7 – Wednesday 13 November, both parties stress an ambition of broadening the conversation around safer gambling. 

“Safer gambling is a key message for GamCare, which we hope to encourage in our RG Week sessions,” explains Anna Hemmings, chief executive officer at GamCare. “Our youth-outreach programme, BigDeal, is dedicated to educating young people and youth-facing professionals about gambling related harm.

“Our work with young people encourages informed choices, understanding of risk and knowledge of where to get support. RG Week provides a platform to promote our existing work to a wider audience.”

GamCare and YGAM, which offer a range of training and workshops throughout the year as part of their education and youth outreach programmes, are to tailor offerings to provide  guidance on how to start conversations with young people who may be at risk

Carly Boyt, head of marketing and communications for YGAM, commented: “We have been running YGAM workshops for the past five years to help inform, educate and safeguard young people by providing information and resources around safer gambling. 

“RG Week is a great opportunity to not only highlight YGAM’s workshops but for organisations and charities to come together to help amplify the messages around safer gambling.”

It’s hoped that the programmes to be offered and to provide participants with confidence to have honest conversations with young people about gambling, knowledge to recognise the risk factors, signs, and symptoms of a gambling issue and resources to advise where to seek help if they identify someone who needs it. 

John Hagan, chairman of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling, added: “We are delighted that GamCare and YGAM are supporting Responsible Gambling Week by offering these important training and briefing sessions during the campaign.  

“Supporting conversations about what it means to gamble responsibly is central to the gambling industry’s approach all-year round, and during Responsible Gambling Week we are proud to work with the collective networks, venues and staff of all gambling sectors, and our digital channels, to provide resources, reach a wider audience, and raise awareness.”

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Speaking to CasinoBeats at last month’s Betting on Football conference in London, Hemmings said: “What precipitates peoples gambling escalating is something that we don’t always know.

“It might be difficult for operators to know, so know-your-customer interactions are key. Something operators can do in all settings is spot changes in patterns of play – that might be a marker that something might be going on in someone’s life.”

The GamCare chief executive also stressed the difficulty online operators face in detecting changes that relate to a customer’s state of mind or general well being, which can be harder to spot in than in offline cases. She made particular reference to the charity’s new cognitive behavioural therapy initiative, which was announced in February.

Watch the full interview above.

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The national problem gambling support charity is striving to introduce a new range of end-to-end digital interventions, that it is hoped can enhance existing protocols and help to reach more people affected by gambling problems.

These are set to include provision of digital screening for problem gambling using a validated screening tool such as PGSI, as well as brief intervention modules of up to 15 minutes which will be recommended based on the outcome of screening, and which can also be used as standalone modules by GamCare’s frontline service advisers.

Furthermore, GamCare is seeking cCBT for up to 10 sessions, each with a minimum duration of 20 minutes or maximum duration of one hour, and the provision of data and analytics to ensure GamCare can monitor individual characteristics, progress, attrition, outcomes and follow ups for all participants in the programme.

The charity currently operates the National Gambling HelpLine and NetLine, as well as providing a range of face-to-face, online and telephone treatment services, which are all based on cognitive behavioural therapy.

Anna Hemmings, GamCare CEO, commented: “Offering our service users a range of effective and flexible treatment options, including digital interventions to suit them, will mean that we are able to reach more people affected by problem gambling.”

In its extensive invitation to tender, which outlines a series of characteristics software must have, GamCare detailed that the “budget available for the software, inclusive of all elements, start-up costs and support, is £30,000 annually”.

Submissions are set to be “evaluated with a weighting of 70 per cent on quality and 30 per cent on pricing information”.

Emphasising certain aspects of operational background, and why this could be seen as a crucial step forward, it is stated that “GamCare currently uses cognitive behavioural therapy in its model of care in the treatment of problem gambling.

“We provide problem gamblers with a range of CBT based support options, which include access to treatment support online, via telephone and in person face-to-face. Offering choice to service users is an important part of this, and computerised CBT would be consistent with our overarching CBT based model of care.

“It would provide a further development to our existing online Skype/Zoom based one to one and group work. CCBT is widely used in mental health service to treat depression and anxiety, and is seen as a cost-effective alternative to face to face treatment.

“For these reasons, we are keen to explore CCBT within the problem gambling cohort.”

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The provider of information, advice, support and free counselling for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling previously spoke to CasinoBeats about current industry efforts, as well as what more can be done universally surrounding such issues.

“There has certainly been a change in the landscape of the gambling industry since GamCare started”

This time around the group’s CEO Anna Hemmings, first chose to focus upon what progress has been made during Gamcare’s relatively young life: “There has certainly been a change in the landscape of the gambling industry since GamCare started, however our core focus is still the same.

“We provide information, advice and support for anyone affected by problem gambling across Great Britain, and we also work to minimise gambling-related harms by providing a range of training, consultancy and targeted outreach work.

“In the last ten years alone, we have supported well over a quarter of a million people affected by problem gambling, via the National Gambling HelpLine and a variety of treatment interventions across our network.

“We’ve also trained thousands of people to better identify the signs that someone is experiencing gambling-related harms, and signpost them to the support they need, and our Youth Outreach Programme has already reached more than 4,600 young people and 1,100 professionals supporting them. We’re now expanding this to cover more areas of Great Britain.”

Before going on to focus upon what steps have been taken during the almost 12 months of her own tenure: “Since I started in January, we have launched our new organisational strategy for the next three years – this is available on our website if you want to have a read. We have worked hard in various ways to transform the organisation, so it is fit for purpose in the current climate.

“Our biggest priority is always ensuring that the people who need our help can access support and treatment easily, free of charge”

“We have a new senior management team, a new model of care and innovative new ideas around how to develop our support services. We also have a whole new suite of products and training courses designed for the gambling industry, with the option to transfer callers directly to the National Gambling HelpLine, and our Safer Gambling Standard will replace our current certification soon. All of these aim to drive up standards in responsible gambling and player protection. It’s been a busy year so far!”

As GamCare closes in on its 21st anniversary, Hemmings concluded by looking at what lies a little further ahead, and what the organisation’s goals are moving forward: “Our biggest priority is always ensuring that the people who need our help can access support and treatment easily, free of charge.

“Currently, it’s estimated that around 2% of the people affected by problem gambling are seeking treatment. We are working hard to reduce the barriers people may experience in reaching out for help, in order to increase the number of people we support over the coming years.

“We are also aiming to increase our engagement with ‘hard to reach’ groups, as while they don’t frequently access our services, their need may be more acute. This includes those within the criminal justice system, BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) groups, as well as women.

“We do want to encourage people to engage with us sooner”

“This goes hand in hand with increasing the range of treatment options we can provide. The more choice we can offer to our clients, within a solid evidence base, the better. Our treatment options are high-quality, and our outcomes are very good, so when people do engage with us we can certainly help them.

“However, we do want to encourage people to engage with us sooner, many of the people accessing our services are at a crisis point, and we recognise the need for earlier interventions.

“Increasing awareness of problem gambling, and the ways that people can access support, is key. This encompasses at-risk gamblers too – we want to prevent problems from escalating any further. We have captured all this and more in our new organisational strategy. It’s going to be a busy few years!”

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