One of the leading charitable organisations aimed at prevention and treatment of problem gambling in the UK, GamCare, revealed that it managed to ink an agreement with GambleAware that would guarantee it new three-year funding for problem gambling treatment.
Thanks to the funding it will get from GambleAware, GamCare would be able to provide free treatment services in the UK as well as the National Gambling HelpLine until March 2021.
Apart from that, the charity has also announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer who is to take the lead from January 2018. The position of CEO is to be taken by Anna Hemmings, who is known for her extensive experience after spending five years at Lifeline.
GamCare Initiatives to Deal with Problem Gambling in The UK
Currently, the GamCare charity works as part of a treatment services network authorized by GambleAware. The organisation is aimed at providing information, education, support and treatment of problem gamblers on the territory of the UK and is known for its various prevention initiatives aimed at reducing gambling-related harm. As part of these initiatives, the charitable organisation has opened a nation-wide helpline for players affected by by gambling addictions, not to mention the fact that free treatment is provided to such individuals.
Since April 2017, the Interim CEO of the organisation Simon Thompson has been aimed on changing the orientation of GamCare service delivery. In addition, the charity has been planning to increase treatment services delivered across England, Wales and Scotland over the next three years.
Apart from operating the National Gambling HelpLine, GamCare is also known for various initiatives of providing free workshops for young people. The charity organisation is also engaged with carrying out free trainings for professionals who support young people who have been affected by problem gambling behaviour in four areas of the country, including London, Bristol, Birmingham and the North West part of England. At the end of April, the organisation officially launched its national Youth Outreach programme.
Also, problem gamblers-oriented chatrooms are launched by the organisation in order to help compulsive gamblers better understand their gambling addition and deal with it, as well as to prevent their behaviour from deteriorating.
As CasinoGuardian has reported, at the beginning of March 2016, GamCare unveiled the launch of new multi-operator self-exclusion schemes (MOSES) available for the UK retail sports betting and bingo industry. In March 2017, GambleAware revealed that the MOSES scheme was found quite efficient in terms of betting shops users.
Apart from that, GamCare has had other initiatives aimed at helping problem gamblers. At the beginning of November, the organisation revealed that it would relaunch its dedicated website especially aimed to raise young people’s awareness about gambling and gambling-related harm. The website is entirely focused on providing enough information about gambling and its risks to young people, as well as helping the latter make a difference between problem gambling and responsible gambling.
- Author
Daniel Williams
