GambleAware has announced the expansion of its Gambling Education Hubs in England and Wales, following a successful pilot program in Scotland, and confirms the award of a £2.5 million (approximately €3 million) grant for this.
GambleAware has highlighted in a press release that these Hubs, designed to prevent gambling harms among young people through early intervention and education, resulted in 92% of practitioners from the Scottish Hub saying they felt confident in identifying the signs of gambling harm, compared to just 35% pre-training.
The Hubs also resulted in more than eight in ten young people from the Scottish Hub saying they were more aware of the consequences of gambling and 84% felt confident about where to turn to for support if needed.
This GambleAware investment comes at a critical time, with the Centers designed to reach every community in the nation by engaging at the local level in a way that central government sometimes cannot.
GambleAware research published in 2020 showed that 94% of 11-17 year olds in Great Britain had been exposed to gambling adverts in the last month, viewing an average of six adverts. This data led directly to recent caps and restrictions placed on industry advertisers to further reduce their appeal to children and youth.
We must highlight that the pilot program 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 organization Fast Forward to deliver the locally-focused prevention programme.
An independent evaluation of this project by IFF highlights these aspects of the Hub:
- improved knowledge and awareness of youth gambling harms and gambling education among practitioners, and
- reached over 15,800 young people resulting in increased awareness of the consequences of gambling and confidence in asking for support.
Following a competitive bidding process, the grant has been won by GamCare, in partnership with YGAM, ARA, Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca to carry out the work in England, and by Adferiad Recovery, which will carry out the work in Wales .
It is worth mentioning that the new Hubs will also reflect differences in curricula, languages, regions, needs and demands, and political and other contexts, specific to each nation.
Anna Hemmings, Chief Executive of GamCare, highlights that they collaborate with a number of organizations that provide unparalleled experience working with young people such as Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), Addiction Recovery Agency (ARA), Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca .
Along these lines, she adds: “We are looking forward to building on the successes of our work with young people, their parents and professionals in a new program 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”.
On the other hand, Leon Marsh, Director of Hospital and Residential Services at Adferiad Recovery: “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”.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware: “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”.
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