GambleAware invests £2.5m for expanded education scheme

GambleAware invests £2.5m for expanded education scheme - Banner
Charlie Vogelsang
by Charlie Vogelsang Last updated:

After a successful pilot in Scotland, GambleAware invests a further £2.5m into the Hubs

GambleAware is constantly working to help those affected by gambling harm as the charity announced have previously announced a £3m gambling harms training initiative as well as a £300K grant for gambling harms research back in December 2021.

On the 21st of April 2022, GambleAware announced the expansion of the Gambling Education Hubs across England and Wales following an extremely successful pilot in Scotland.

What is the Gambling Education Hub?

The Hubs prevent gambling harm among young people through early intervention and education resulting in 92% of the practitioners from the Scottish Hub announcing that they felt confident in identifying the signs of gambling harm.

Ultimately, the Hubs are designed to reach all communities across the nation by engaging at a local level in a way that the UK Government cannot.

The Scottish Hub delivered gambling education to over 3,000 professionals and volunteers as well as young people, carers and parents.

A collaborative scheme

An independent evaluation of this project by IFF Research found that the Hub improved knowledge and awareness but also reached over 15,800 young people.

As the Scottish Hub has been so successful, GambleAware is expanding this Hub across the UK and Wales. This grant has been won by GamCare in partnership with YGAM, ARA, Aquarius, Beacon, Breakeven and Neca to carry out the work in England, and by Adferiad Recovery, which will carry out the work in Wales.

“A key part of young people's education,” says GamCare

Anna Hemmings, Chief Executive of GamCare, said: “We are delighted to be receiving this grant to deliver gambling education hubs across England. We work in collaboration with a number of organisations who bring the unparalleled experience of working with young people around these issues to deliver Education Hubs across England.”

“Both GamCare and our partners passionately believe that information on the risks associated with gambling and gaming should be a key part of young people’s education, gaining parity with other risky behaviours such as drugs and alcohol.”

Hemmings concluded: “We are looking forward to building on the successes of our work with young people, their parents and professionals in a new programme aimed at increasing visibility of both local and national education and support, and to working with GambleAware and our partners towards our shared aspiration of reducing gambling-related harms for young people.”

“Hope to see the positive short-term impacts,” says GambleAware

“At a time when young people are increasingly exposed to gambling, the delivery of local focused programs for gambling education and prevention of harms has never been more important,” said Zoë Osmond, CEO at GambleAware. “We hope to see the positive short-term impacts from the Scottish Education Hub’s activities replicated in our newly commissioned English and Welsh Education Hubs, and we are excited to have awarded this grant to these two highly experienced organisations.”

“As the lead commissioner working to prevent gambling harms, GambleAware is committed to working with local organisations and stakeholders to fund and establish tailored, best-practice prevention programmes.”

She concluded: “With young people in the UK now growing up being widely exposed to gambling marketing and advertising, these projects represent a meaningful step towards delivering a society where all children and young people are protected from the risks of gambling related harms.”