SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
PlayItForward is committed to creating partnerships with charities who support those affected by gambling harms, making sure that service users’ needs are prioritised.
However, this is not possible without concrete data to inform action. With support from PlayItForward, Betknowmore UK has engaged in exciting research projects to inform the development of its services.
In conversation with SBC News, Dr Liz Riley, Betknowmore UK’s Head of Research & Evaluation, and Kate Moughtin, Senior CSR & Marketing Manager of PlayItForward, dissect a range of key issues.
The pair elaborate on initiatives undertaken thus far, emphasising how these informed and enhanced Betknowmore UK’s services, and look into the overall impacts that the charity’s research projects have had in relation to an evidence-based approach.
SBC News: Who is Betknowmore UK and what services does it provide?
Dr Liz Riley: Betknowmore UK is a charity that supports people harmed by gambling. First established as a community interest company by CEO and founder, Frankie Graham, who has lived experience of gambling harms, we became a registered charity in 2022.
This year we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary! Over the last decade our services have evolved from award-winning London-based projects to services that we offer nationally and that sit within the National Gambling Support Network.
We continue to offer outreach on the ground in London communities through our GOALS service and through a project to reach London’s black communities.
Nationally we offer two peer support services delivered by our staff with lived experience: New Beginnings is a digital service just for women, while Peer Aid is our service for anyone in the UK experiencing gambling harms.
Peer Aid is also delivered by volunteers who have received City & Guilds assured training. Betknowmore UK builds lived experience of gambling harms into all its projects and programmes as well throughout its teams and its board of trustees.
SBCN: How is Betknowmore UK funded?
DLR: Betknowmore UK relies on secure and sustainable income to continue delivering impactful and innovative services that support our charitable goals. Our funding comes from various sources, including:
- Research, education and treatment funding: Betknowmore UK has been assessed by the Gambling Commission and approved as a recipient of RET funding. This funding supports our charitable activities and is closely monitored by our independent board of trustees.
- Grant funding: We receive project-based income from various funders, such as the National Lottery Community Fund, Trust for London and the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
- Trading: Betknowmore Global provides training programmes that help to generate income for our community and support work. These are hosted within our social enterprise, and cover a range of themes, from safer gambling to suicide first aid training.
- Fundraising and donations: We host challenge events nationwide to promote health and wellbeing, while individual giving and online donations further support our mission.
SBCN: What is your approach to research and why is it so important?
DLR: Research forms the evidence base on which we build our services. It tells us what support people need and what barriers people face to accessing support. We can then design services that meet those needs and that try to overcome those barriers.
As a charity that integrates the voice of lived experience throughout its work, our approach to research is no different. We aim to make our research as participatory as possible, so that people with lived experience of gambling harms can actively participate in the design of research projects, in the gathering and processing of research data, and the dissemination of research findings.
We focus on applied research that can be used to directly inform what we do, as well as generating evidence that improves the understanding of gambling harms more generally.
SBCN: What research projects has PlayItForward supported and why are these important?
DLR: When I joined Betknowmore UK in 2021, my first research project was funded by PlayItForward and focused on the support needs and experiences of women harmed by gambling.
At the time, there was very little support available in the UK that was targeted just at women and the research evidence was scarce. I set about organising a project that aimed to capture the voices of a range of women, getting them together in focus groups to talk about how they were impacted by gambling, where and how they found support and what support worked for them.
For some of the women who took part, those focus groups were the first opportunity they had ever had to meet other women with similar experiences to them. The research went on to form the basis of our women-only New Beginnings service.
The group support that makes up the main offering of New Beginnings reflects the findings of the research that women need female communities of support to help them overcome shame and stigma and to talk about issues that are particular to them as women.
A second project supported by PlayItForward began in 2022 and focused on peer support groups for gambling harms. As a charity that offers peer support groups through both New Beginnings and Peer Aid, we wanted to know what makes peer support groups work and what challenges they hold.
Previous research in this area was negligible and so I set about identifying the peer support groups for gambling harms on offer in the UK and interviewing the people running them and the people attending them. The findings of that research have helped shape the peer support groups that Betknowmore UK offers.
SBCN: How can the industry support Betknowmore UK and those suffering from gambling harm?
DLR: The industry can continue supporting charities included on the LCCP list and remain open to collaboration on gambling harm prevention and awareness across the sector.
As the public understanding of gambling harm evolves, the industry can further engage in training to better equip their teams with the knowledge to offer support, guide at-risk individuals to appropriate resources, and handle sensitive conversations.
Ongoing support is essential for charities working in this space to effectively reach individuals and communities at risk of harm. Prevention remains a key priority in reducing gambling harm.
SBCN: Where can we find more information on the research that Betknowmore UK has done with support from PlayItForward?
DLR: The two research projects supported by PlayItForward resulted in widely disseminated research reports, published by Betknowmore UK.
We have used webinars, posters and conference presentations to ensure that the impact of the research goes beyond our services to help build the understanding of gambling harms in the sector as a whole, as well as in other sectors, such as among domestic abuse support organisations. The two research reports can be found here.
Conclusion
KM: PlayItForward is proud of the projects we have chosen to support with Betknowmore UK, especially those with a research focus. Putting service users first, using lived experience and research-based evidence means that people who need help receive the best possible support from Betknowmore UK.
