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Current prevention programmes

Current prevention programmes

GambleAware fund a number of strategic partnerships aimed at working together with other organisations to raise awareness and to prevent gambling harms. You can find out more about our current prevention programmes on this page.

Prevention activity

GambleAware produces public health campaigns on a national scale to support local services to respond to gambling harms including leading on awareness and behaviour change campaigns such as Bet Regret.

We provide guidance, information and support to GP services, debt and other advice agencies, mental health services, prisons, military personnel, professional sports, schools and youth workers, specifically:

  • To build resilience for children, young people and vulnerable adults
  • To provide advice and training materials to primary care professionals and other support services, and to promote collaboration between workforces.

We also invest in campaigns to raise awareness of the services available to support people experiencing gambling harms, including the National Gambling Treatment Service campaign.

We fund a number of strategic partnerships to help keep people safe from gambling harms.

Current funded partnerships

Workforce development

Projects due to be completed in 2021
Citizens Advice England and Wales will train debt advisers and other frontline workers to better understand, prevent or reduce gambling harm. The training will give staff the necessary tools to identify and support people who may be suffering from gambling harms, as well as directing those at risk to the specialist help that is available. The project will establish hubs in 12 regions across England and Wales and will enable staff to deliver training to other frontline workers in other professions who come across people suffering from gambling harm, such as frontline local authority staff, youth practitioners and healthcare workers. The funding commitment comes after a successful six-year pilot project GambleAware ran with Newport Citizens Advice to deliver the Gambling Support Service.

The University of Bristol’s Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC), in partnership with GambleAware, has launched Money and Gambling: Practice, Insight, Evidence (MAGPIE). This research explores the effectiveness of current gambling spending blocks on debit and credit cards, and what a ‘model’ spending blocker might look like from the perspective of those affected by gambling harms. For more information, please click here or download the briefing document here. The full report ‘A Blueprint for Bank Card Gambling Blockers” can be downloaded here.

Projects due to be completed in 2022
GambleAware and The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) have joined forces to form a Gambling Health Alliance. Visit the Gambling Health Alliance webpage, where you can access the minutes of the meetings.

Citizens Advice Scotland will train debt advisers and other frontline workers to better understand, prevent or reduce gambling harm. The training will give staff the necessary tools to identify and support people who may be suffering from gambling harms, as well as directing those at risk to the specialist help that is available. The project will establish hubs in 4 regions across Scotland enabling staff to deliver training to other frontline workers in other professions who come across people suffering from gambling harm, such as frontline local authority staff, youth practitioners and healthcare workers. 

Youth Education

Projects due to be completed in 2021
Fast Forward has been commissioned to run a major youth problem gambling initiative across Scotland for three years. This will include establishing a Scottish Gambling Education Hub with the aim of helping organisations address gambling issues with young people in Scotland. The hub will be based on the Gambling Education Toolkit developed by Fast Forward in 2017 and will provide the relevant training and resources needed by youth workers, teachers and professionals working with young people in formal and informal education settings. It will also offer services for vulnerable young people who are not in education, employment or training, as well as parents and carers.

Previously funded projects

Workforce development

Citizens Advice (Newport) has developed a model to improve identification and early intervention with front-line advisers to reduce the impact of gambling related harm. This model integrates awareness, training and support within advice services for young people, vulnerable groups directly and via the agencies and statutory bodies who offer help to those groups. The model developed during this pilot has been scaled up and GambleAware is funding Citizens Advice to deliver this nationally from October 2018. The Newport Citizens Advice project was evaluated by Chrysalis Research. The full report and GambleAware’s response can be downloaded here.

Youth education

The PSHE Association has undertaken research to develop guidance and produce resources to improve the delivery of school based preventative gambling education through the PSHE curriculum. Teachers and students were consulted throughout the project and the primary school materials developed include lesson plans, a podcast, a handbook and one-page briefings. Find out more and access the resources for free here.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) worked with young people aged 11 to 24 across England, Scotland and Wales to understand gambling, emerging forms of online gambling and the impact that this can have on young people’s emotional health and wellbeing. The consultation explored perceptions of gambling, views on different forms of gambling and gambling harms. Find out more and read the report here.

Parent Zone have delivered two awareness raising campaigns with accompanying films, tips and resources around gambling harms for families, professional and young people. The first campaign Gaming or Gambling aims to help families learn about the emerging issue of gambling-like risks that 8 to 11 year olds may face when playing online games. The second campaign Know the Stakes is focussed on providing parents, carers, professionals and young people themselves who are in the process of becoming financially independent information and advice to be able to understand and identify potential gambling harms.

Clearview Research, a research consultancy, has explored the experiences, views and attitudes towards gambling of youth groups from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. The consultation took place across England, Scotland and Wales, exploring young people aged 9 to 24. Access to this hard to reach, vulnerable population has helped GambleAware adapt support materials to get key messages across to the BAME community. Download the factsheet and report.

Fast Forward has developed and piloted a toolkit for use in schools and non-traditional youth settings in Scotland. The aim was to prevent the onset of at-risk gambling behaviour among young people and increase access to and availability of support and treatment. The Gambling Education Toolkit developed by Fast Forward can be accessed from the resources page. An evaluation of the project was carried out by Educari - read the evaluation here.

Demos piloted an intervention in secondary schools across England and Wales with pupils aged 14-15; this project aimed to minimise the risks associated with gambling. As such, the project fits into the broader work undertaken by schools to promote the well-being of pupils and prevents harmful behaviours. The resources developed by Demos are available to download from the resources page.

An evaluation of the project was carried out by Educari - read the evaluation here.

Homelessness

The University of Lincoln explored cognitive distortions in homeless gamblers. The tools developed include both a screen to aid in identification and recognition of gambling problems and a brief cognitive intervention to minimise the gambling-related harm experienced by this population. The published research report is available to download here and the tools developed can be accessed from the Health and Social Care toolkits page.

Criminal justice

EPIC Risk Management delivered a project to address and raise awareness of gambling-related harm in the criminal justice system. This included establishing a support pathway, signposting and establishment of support groups. This project also collected data on prevalence of gambling problems in this cohort as well as signposting to support and treatment. The criminal justice project was evaluated by Chrysalis and the evaluation report is here.

Armed forces

EPIC Risk Management delivered a project across the armed forces to address and raise awareness of gambling-related harm including establishing a support pathway, signposting and establishment of support groups. The armed forces project was evaluated by Chrysalis and the evaluation report is here.

Industry & outreach

Betknowmore UK has delivered outreach support to Islington Licensed Betting Offices (LBO), helping customers who identified as either at risk or problem gamblers and providing support and training for LBO staff members. They also delivered gambling awareness workshops to organisations, young people and front-line workers who may have come across gambling issues with their clients. An evaluation of the pilot, by Chrysalis Research, can be found here.

Requests for funding and speculative applications

GambleAware makes grants in accordance with its Strategic Delivery Plan, which reflects the priorities of the National Strategy to Reduce Gambling harms. We do not offer funding in response to speculative applications, but from time to time do issue open tenders when there is the opportunity to bid for funding for innovative projects within a broader field. 

We do not therefore offer funding for new business ideas, artistic projects etc. but we are always interested to hear about anything which can help reduce gambling-related harm so we can consider them as part of our longer term plans.

Find out more about how we commission services here.