SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
GambleAware has announced the launch of its latest gambling-harm awareness campaign – ‘Bet Regret’ – aiming to raise public awareness of betting triggers and impulsive behaviours.
Seeking maximum impact, the Bet Regret campaign will be launched during Sky Sports’ broadcast of Manchester United vs Liverpool FC on Sunday 24th February, a match which is expected to generate the highest TV audience for the 2018/19 Premier League football season.
Bet Regret is the first GambleAware campaign developed under the guidance of London agency M&C Saatchi, who in 2018 were appointed to lead the charity’s new messaging and creative direction on safer gambling.
Updating the media, GambleAware details that Bet Regret’s lead message targets an audience estimated at 2.4 million men aged 16-34, who gamble regularly on sport, mainly through online verticals.
In its campaign mandate, GambleAware states that it aims to drive consumer betting self-reflection, combined with wider recognition of gambling-harm warning signs for friends and family to recognise.
Mims Davies, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said: “This ground-breaking joint campaign will make people think hard about their betting habits, assist to remove the stigma around gambling addiction and give people more courage to say they need help.
“It is crucial that we both focus on prevention as well as cure and this campaign will help to educate people to recognise risky play. I am determined to deliver more collaborative work to help to change behaviours to reduce the threat of problem gambling.”
In 2018, GambleAware established the Safer Gambling Board, made up of representatives from Public Health England, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the London South Bank University Centre for Addictive Behaviours Research and GambleAware.
Research and input of the board and its stakeholders has been used to develop, design and deliver the campaign, based on best practice in public health education.
The Board has overseen the campaign throughout its development. Professor Sian Griffiths, Chair of the Safer Gambling Campaign Board, GambleAware Trustee and Deputy Chair, Public Health England (interim) said:
“The Bet Regret campaign is about raising awareness of behaviours that people might not always recognise as impulsive or risky, such as betting when drunk, bored or chasing losses. We want people to identify with the campaign, realise they too have those kick-yourself moments when betting and reflect on their behaviours, thus preventing future ill-considered bets which are so often the pathway towards harm.”
