YGAM & Betknowmore form education first partnership

UK problem gambling support and education organisations the Young Gamers & Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) and Betknowmore have formed a strategic partnership announced at this year’s CasinoBeats Summit as part of the inaugural Safer Gambling Forum.

Both organisations will collaborate in the development of new training programmes, which seek to improve standards for relevant industry and social stakeholders tackling problem gambling harms.

Key stakeholders targeted by YGAM and Betknowmore will include industry professionals, leadership, universities, students and healthcare workers.

In the past year, YGAM details that it has trebled the number of young and vulnerable people it has delivered its education programme to in over 1,700 schools and youth organisations, reaching more than 180,000 individuals.

Moving forward, YGAM and Betknowmore seek to increase the increase access to safer gambling education directives to three times the amount of UK students.

Lee Willows, CEO and founder of YGAM, explained: “I am so excited at the prospect of working even closer with Frankie Graham, a good friend and mentor. Our organisations have been generating purposeful impact for over five-years and we are both working with some incredible businesses in the gambling space.

“We are looking forward to working with our friends and colleagues in the gambling sector specifically to compliment the current direction of travel by operators to put social responsibility and safer gambling at the heart of their businesses.”

The new formal relationship consolidates five years of shared growth and networking with companies and individuals drawn from across the UK and international gambling spectrum.

Frankie Graham, CEO of Betknowmore UK, added: “Lee and I have been friends, critical friends, champions and motivators to each other and the organisations we have developed.

“We have always asked how we might combine our skills, experience and insight in this space to drive greater social impact. We believe we have found that special sweet spot and it lies in providing the gambling sector with authentic, accredited training.

“What makes our training totally unique is 100 per cent of the profits are donated to Betknowmore UK and YGAM to enable our organisations to deliver our social purpose, which we both seek to build upon in 2020.”