SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has launched its latest public campaign promoting ‘9 ways to keep yourself safe when gambling’.
The campaign focuses on raising public awareness of safer gambling control tools, facilities and support groups such as GambleAware and GamCare.
In addition, the UKGC seeks to provide better all-round guidance on how consumers can monitor their activity with licensed incumbents – ‘maintaining consumer spend at a manageable level’.
The public are reminded that all UK licensed online gambling firms, must provide players ‘access to historic account activity’, helping customers make informed choices with regards to their gambling habits and consumption.
Furthermore, the UKGC reminds the public to utilise in-play safety tools, such as game alerts that pop-up on screen, reminding audiences of how much time they have spent either online or on gaming machines at betting shops.
Consumers who are concerned on how much money they are wagering, are reminded to ‘set limits on their spend’ before engaging with any gambling verticals.
Raising public awareness, the UKGC reminds audiences to undertake ‘reality checks’ as to why they are gambling – “to escape debt or as a way to make quick money? Think carefully about your motivations to gamble”.
The UKGC concludes its statement, reminding audiences of their rights to ask for a ‘timeout from gambling’ for a set period of up to six weeks.
Vulnerable consumers are reminded that all licensed operators must offer access to the GAMSTOP self-exclusion scheme, which enforces a ‘longer break from gambling’ for a minimum period of six months.
The campaign sees the UKGC continue to expand its initiatives on raising public awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities when gambling.
Last month, the UKGC launched a general guidance campaign on consumer rights in relation to requirements and safeguards licensed operators must provide their customer when they sign-up and register.
