SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A major social media campaign with the hashtag #gamblesmart is being launched by gambling watchdog Senet Group on Friday, 13 November.
The three-week campaign targets young men with shareable, humorous online content to highlight and promote responsible gambling behaviour such as setting limits, never gambling when angry and never betting more than you can afford. The work will build on Senet Group’s TV campaign earlier this year that used the ‘When the Fun Stops, Stop’ tagline.
Supporting the online promotion, all Senet Group members will be devoting all their shop windows to the distinctive yellow and black campaign posters for three days from Monday, 16 November.
Doncaster Central MP Rosie Winterton, who has taken particular interest in problem gambling, said: “I’m delighted that 6,000 bookmakers’ shops around the country will be promoting responsible gambling behaviour. It’s important the industry takes seriously the need to protect vulnerable people.”
“Our campaign is all about prevention,” said Ron Finlay, Senet Group Chief Executive. “It’s designed to be funny and shareable, but with an underlying serious message about how to prevent gambling becoming a problem.”
Real-life videos of things going wrong when people don’t follow the tips are being sent out on Facebook, and Twitter will carry similar images. The videos will be shown on gaming machines in bookmakers’ shops and on their online channels. A special website,www.whenthefunstops.co.uk, will contain more information about the campaign and where to get help and support. The campaign was designed by award-winning youth marketing agency Livity.
This is the second responsible gambling push from Senet Group this year. The first campaign, which aired on TV in the spring and summer, is recognised by about one in three adults and half of gamblers, according to independent research commissioned by Senet. Some people claimed that the ads had led them to warn others about their gambling behaviour.
Wanda Goldwag, Senet Group Chair and Independent Standards Commissioner, said that the Group would be broadening the range of its work in 2016.
“We plan to manage a new scheme for retail bookmakers, so that customers who want to ‘self-exclude’ from several shops can do so in one easy step,” she said.
“We are also turning increasingly to look at online gambling. We intend to work with our members on how they can best identify potential problem gamblers from their data and find ways to warn those people to stop or take a break.
“The industry has a duty to protect vulnerable people and we’re pleased to be able to play our part in that.”
