As the standards body for the regulated UK betting and gaming industry (excluding the National Lottery), the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) represents casinos, betting shops, online and bingo.
“Safer Gambling Week is now an established annual event. We know that rates of problem gambling are low and are now falling, which is great news, but Safer Gambling Week is further evidence of the regulated industry’s determination to keep raising standards.
“BGC members demonstrate their commitment to safer gambling every day through initiatives such as the whistle to whistle ban on TV betting commercials during live sport and strict ID and age verification checks.
“Safer Gambling Week is a great opportunity to highlight this fantastic work – and emphasises the difference between the regulated industry and the unlicensed and illegal online black market, which has none of the safeguards which are commonplace among our members.”
About the Betting and Gaming Council
The Betting and Gaming Council works with its members, large and small, to drive high ethical standards, create a culture of safer betting and gaming and build public and institutional trust in the UK's world-class betting and gaming industry.
The Betting and Gaming Council was launched with five key safer gambling commitments and 22 targeted action points. These pledges are at the heart of all activities and BGC has already made significant progress in driving change and raising standards.
The Five Safer Gambling Commitments
Safeguarding Young People
The Betting and Gaming Council will work with its members to:
- Increase the number of competent professionals nationally who educate children and young people on the risks related to gambling.
- Educate 11 to 19-year-olds about the risks associated with problem gambling.
- Motivate banks to introduce barriers and blocks to prevent under-18s from gambling online.
- Introduce AdTech to prevent under-18s from seeing gambling advertising online.
Increasing Support for the Treatment of Gambling Harm
- The goal is to support a fourfold increase in access to gambling treatment and support services for people at risk, or directly affected by gambling-related harm, up from the current baseline by 2025.
Source: RGSB data
Strengthening and Expanding Codes of Practice for Advertising and Marketing
The Betting and Gaming Council will work with its members and external bodies to:
- Set and adhere to the highest standards in all advertising and marketing
- Robustly address concerns around volume, tone and content across television, online and sports sponsorship
- Promote safer gambling. This includes 20% of all broadcast and radio advertising to be a safer gambling message.
Protecting and Empowering Customers
The Betting and Gaming Council will work with its members to:
- Encourage the widespread adoption and use of safer gambling tools
- Improve how we engage and interact with customers showing signs of risky behaviour
- Work with key stakeholders to solve the GDPR challenge to share data on vulnerable customers
Creating a Culture of Safer Gambling
The Betting and Gaming Council will:
- Drive cultural change across the industry by incorporating the attainment of the Safer Gambling Standard aware into the Code of Conduct.
- Spread best practice through an open-source collaboration repository and by sharing safer gambling employee policies and case studies from internal training programmes with the wider gambling industry
- Create a culture that encourages the right organisational behaviours and values by training staff in safer gambling practices