The Betting and Gaming Council has praised this year’s Safer Gambling Week, stating it is a ‘record-breaking’ year for coverage and social media interactions.
The annual campaign, designed to ‘kickstart a national conversation’ on the risks of gambling, ran from November 1 – November 7 this year and earned over 25m social media impressions, a 19% rise from 2020.
Additionally, the impressions on Safer Gambling Week’s own social media channels increased by 75% from 800,000 in 2020 to 1.4m.
This year’s campaign saw celebrity endorsements from sporting stars such as Michael Owen, Anthony Joshua, Rachael Blackmore and AP McCoy, who all posted to their social media pages.
Figures from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) indicate that the rate of problem gambling has fallen in the last year from 0.6% to 0.3%.
BGC CEO Michael Dugher said: “It’s great news that this year’s Safer Gambling Week was such a huge success.
“It is now an established annual event creating a national conversation on the importance of safer gambling, the tools that are available and the help that’s out there.
“Once again, this shows the regulated betting and gaming industry’s commitment to continuing to raise standards. But our commitment to safer gambling is not just for one week of the year. Safer gambling is our mission for every week of the year.
“Millions of people enjoy a bet safely and responsibly, and the fall in problem gambling rates suggests that the work we have done at the BGC to promote safer gambling is starting to have an impact. But we are not complacent and will continue our efforts to raise standards even higher.”
Despite the success of Safer Gambling Week 2021, the industry could not escape negative headlines during the week.
Sky Vegas was investigated by UKGC after it accidentally sent out promotional material to the email inboxes of self-excluded customers.
Conor Grant, CEO of Flutter Entertainment UK&I, apologised to “all of those who have been affected by the recent issue at Sky Vegas,” stating that the group recognised that “on this occasion, we have let many people down.”
