Search Results

Newham Sixth Form College houses three of our specialist workshops this week and hopefully many more in the future. You can sense the students were engaged throughout the entire workshop, responding with insightful answers, challenging questions and extremely positive feedback made on the short film ‘Do It For Her’. This is exactly what we want to hear and gain from our workshops and why we love what we do. I was greeted with a fantastic reception for a small class. Each student introduced themselves, touching on what subject they are studying and what they plan to do with the education they are receiving. The initial welcome was solidified with immediate help from students when technical difficulties arose. For this I must truly thank each and every student at the session. The Preventing Gambling Harm in Diverse Communities took another step today in helping 24 more students grasp an understanding of what Gambling is and raising awareness on Gambling Harms as we delivered our workshop to Newham Sixth Form College. This is something I believe is more important for Newham Sixth Form College than may meet the eye. Not only was my walk from the train station to the college met with 3 separate betting shops, but Newham is also a borough that has been heavily affected by Gambling and financial issues. In 2017 Newham was dubbed the ‘Debt Capital of the UK’ (see this article for further information: researchforaction.uk). In 2013, Newham contained 82 different betting shops and one road alone, High Street North, held 18 different stores. This is what we want to challenge, change and have an impact on.

I was invited by Alcohol Change UK to share my lived experience of gambling harm and alcohol dependence. In addition to gambling and alcohol addiction and recovery I shared my experience of being recently diagnosed with ADHD. Please do take 20 minutes out of your day to watch.

Gambling Harm UK: We're pleased to share ‘Do It For Her’ a first-of-its-kind short drama reflecting on gambling harms in diverse communities experienced by a student and loved ones The short film involved a lived experience inspired and an evidence-based approach specifically throughGambling Harm UK’s research report that was also the first of its type to raise awareness on the disproportionate harms in ethnic minority communities. 'Do It For Her' was produced by Fully Focussed/Million Youth Media, directed by Shehroze Khan, written by Mohammedally Shushtari, and featured Fady Elsayed as the lead actor! The film was co-commissioned as part of the novel ‘Preventing Gambling Harms in Diverse Communities’ alongside YGAM and Red Card Gambling Support Project. The whole team at Gambling Harm UK are extremely proud to have helped bring about a hard-hitting and impactful short film bringing to a life a story that is prevalent but rarely seen or heard about. Kishan Patel (Chair of the Board of Trustees at Gambling Harm UK) first reached out to Fully Focussed on the 13th of February 2021, and following a competitive tender process and some 299 days later, 'Do It For Her' premiered in full for the world to see for free on YouTube on the 9th of December 2021. How did the short film incorporate an evidence-based and lived-experience led approach? A diverse range of topic experts and individuals with lived experience helped guide the film-making process and as a result the film intelligently and creatively reflects a wide range of important discussion points. For example: Factors towards gambling: Industry inducements: Free bets and game design: electronic gaming machines and online casino products have structural characteristics that affect human decision-making and behaviours, and therefore addiction potential, such as free bet offers, high event frequencies, random ratio reinforcement schedules, near misses, losses appearing as wins, multiline betting, and exaggerated audible and visual reinforcements Advertising: the industry spends an estimated £1.6bn on advertising in Great Britain with 80% of that or £1.2bn spent on online advertising, advertising is particularly effective at getting younger individuals to gamble when they otherwise were not going to, 61% of 18-24 year olds spent money on gambling after seeing a gambling ad or marketing when they were otherwise not planning to Association and exposure through sports: Boxing has been estimated to have the highest frequency of gambling sponsorship references in sports per broadcast minute at 4.70 gambling sponsorship references per minute Risk factors: Students/young people (the prevalence of gambling harm is expected to be highest among 16-24 year olds and according to the last gambling prevalence study, BGPS 2010, 17.5% of (or almost 1 in 5) 16-24 year olds suffered significant gambling harm from their gambling in the past year Ethnic minority backgrounds: individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to gamble, more likely to live in areas disproportionately concentrated with betting venues, and between 3-5x more likely to suffer gambling disorder than individuals from white ethnic backgrounds Low mental well-being status: individuals with a low Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing score have been estimated to be 7.65x more likely to suffer gambling disorder harm Types of gambling harm shown in 'Do It For Her': The film demonstrates the development and escalation of harms across all the known domains of gambling harm (taxonomy of harms) for the individual who gambles and the loved ones around that individual including: financial relationship crime health/psychological education and work cultural The potential for recovery by breaking stigmas and through conversation: 'Do It For Her' also aims to empower young people to talk about their experiences of gambling harm to someone they can trust, whether that be a professional or a trusted loved one. Additionally, the film demonstrates how someone may effectively help someone else if their behaviour worries them. We are extremely grateful to have worked with such a talented and dedicated team - thank you to all those involved! With an extra special thanks to all cast and crew involved and individuals with lived experience who helped guide the creative process.

In December 2020, the Government announced a major and wide-ranging review of the Gambling Act 2005 to ensure they are fit for the digital age. The underlying assumption in this statement is that gambling harm has emerged as a legislative issue worth tackling due to the changes in how the population interact with online gambling products. In this article, we summarise existing evidence to provide commentary on whether gambling harm was an issue prior to the digital age. Therefore, we hope to assess whether the Gambling Act Review should be brought about with a focus around a) the significance of the digital age or b) the significance of gambling harm on the population. In 2019, the remote gross gambling yield exceeded the non-remote gross gambling yield for the first time in Great Britain (Table 1). Table 1 Gross gambling yields statistics stratified by non-remote gambling and remote gambling (excludes lotteries) Despite gambling harm being consistently common in the adult population (Figure 1), at the time of writing there have been no meaningful efforts to understand the significance of gambling harm on the Great British population. Figure 1 Prevalence of gambling harm in the adult population (%) in Great Britain as stratified by low-risk harm, moderate-risk harm, and gambling disorder-harm from 2007 to 2020 To conclude, we find evidence that reflects that gambling harm had been a neglected major public health issue prior to the digital age. We suggest that a public health approach to gambling harm would recognise that the digital age is likely to exacerbate gambling harm issues. However, it is imperative that the review of the gambling act be focussed on reducing and preventing gambling harm, due to gambling harm being a major and neglected public health issue, rather than just due to issues relating to the digital age.

Woodbridge High School, what can I say? A truly amazing experience from start to finish. From the first point of call to the end of the day, Woodbridge High School welcomed us with open arms, which set the scene perfectly for us to deliver our Preventing Gambling Harm in Diverse Communities project. We were given centre stage (quite literally, as the venue was changed to the drama hall). Each sixth form student truly did themselves proud in engaging, listening and soaking in all discussions held today. I would like to thank Mr Graham Samuels and every other member of staff throughout the day who helped us to get our programme to run as smoothly as possible.

We took another step today on our mission to eradicate Gambling Harm and reach as many young people as possible and I would like to send a big thank you to Mr Robert Potterton and the Year 10’s and 11’s at Royal Docks Academy as they welcomed us in with open arms and listened attentively throughout.

Prevalence of gambling harm in Adults Significance of gambling harm in Adults (Quality of Life Impacts and Mortality related to gambling harm) Significance of gambling harm on society Miscellaneous

Prevalence of gambling in Young People (11-16 year olds) Prevalence of gambling harm in Young People (11-16 year olds) Miscellaneous

Gary and Ant are two great guys who like me love football. They love it so much they decided to talk about it a lot and started their podcast What A Ball Ache. It's a podcast I have enjoyed listening to regularly. So when Ant got in touch and asked me to come on and talk about gambling harm and it's relationship with sport, particularly football, amongst other things I was really excited. What I didn't realise was that Ant was going to use the podcast to share his own experiences of gambling harm. I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of this recording. Well done Ant, top man! https://open.spotify.com/episode/5tvu77BMxqnHtAwzpCCNCn?si=1OMblgYpRSewCv7wmQEB-g

Young People and Gambling 2020 The findings are taken from the data tables of the annual Young People and Gambling Survey, conducted in 2020 by Ipsos Mori on behalf of the Gambling Commission. These statistics seemed significantly noteworthy to us but have been omitted from discussion within the overall report. In 11-16 year old school students in England and Scotland: Lost sleep at night because of worrying about a family member’s gambling rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 4.9% often or all the time: 1.3% Not had enough food (food at home or money on school canteen card/account) rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 1.8% often or all the time: 1.1% Stopped you from belonging to clubs or doing activities you like doing rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 1.3% often or all the time: 1.0% Stopped you from going on trips (e.g. family holidays or school outings) rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 1.8% often or all the time: 0.9% Parent’s or guardians have less time to spend with you rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 1.6% often or all the time: 1.0% More arguments or tension at home rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 2.1% often or all the time: 1.2% Has made you feel sad rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 2.4% often or all the time: 0.6% Has made you feel worried rarely or sometimes or often or all the time: 2.9% often or all the time: 0.7%

One of our priorities at Gambling Harm UK is to see gambling harm appropriately considered and prioritised within the health context. Consequently, as well as Gambling Harm UK's Medical Education efforts, Gambling Harm UK have been one of the earliest and most committed campaigners that wish to see NICE guidelines for gambling. In April 2020, a UK Parliament committee launched a call for evidence for gambling-harm with an inquiry: "Gambling can have significant adverse effects on people which can include addiction, mental health problems, financial loss, and in some cases crime or suicide. Excluding the National Lottery, gambling operators earned £11.3bn in 2018-19. All gambling in Britain is regulated by the Gambling Commission with the aim to “ensure gambling is fair and safe”. It is funded by licence fees from industry, which amounted to £19 million in the same period. Overall responsibility for the policy and regulatory framework lies the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), which has an objective to ensure gambling is socially responsible. The industry is increasingly complex, with new risks emerging from online and mobile gambling and games that share features with gambling but are not regulated as such. The NAO’s report ‘Gambling regulation: problem gambling and protecting vulnerable people’ examines how well gambling regulation protects people from gambling-related harms and addresses new risks from social and technological developments. The report finds that there are an estimated 395,000 problem gamblers in Great Britain, with 1.8 million more gamblers at risk who may also be experiencing harm. The report finds that the Gambling Commission is improving its regulation but has more to do including taking a more strategic approach to influencing gambling operators to raise standards. The NAO concludes that even with improvements, the Commission’s ability to protect gamblers faces constraints in the regulatory framework, including inflexible funding and gaps in redress arrangements, and that the Commission is unlikely to be fully effective in addressing risks and harms to consumers within the current arrangements. This will be the first time the Committee has examined gambling regulation in recent years. The Committee will question officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission, on how well the current regulatory framework protects gamblers. The Committee will also ask officials about how current restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic could affect those susceptible to the negative impacts of gambling. The Committee is inviting views from any interested parties on the issues raised by the NAO report – please submit your evidence by Wednesday 22 April." In May 2020, Gambling Harm UK's Kishan Patel responded to this call for evidence with a short synthesis of salient points which included the lack of guidelines on gambling-harm: "There are currently no NICE guidelines on gambling. As of 24th July 2018, gambling has been referred to NICE, but it has not yet been scheduled into the work programme." The timeline for NICE guidelines on gambling has now been updated which also signifies a significant watershed moment from inaction to action. 20 October 2021 - Scoping workshop 12 July 2021 - Stakeholder list updated 01 June 2021 - 15 June 2021 - Topic expert committee member recruitment 01 June 2021 - 15 June 2021 - Committee chair recruitment 16 November 2021 - 14 December 2021 - Committee member recruitment 16 November 2021 - 14 December 2021 - Draft scope consultation 07 February 2024 - Expected publication We would like to encourage individuals with lived experience to join us, to engage and support efforts towards a robust, appropriate, and impactful set of NICE guidelines. For more information, see here.

Extract from the article Danielle's met other gamblers in recovery through a network called TalkGEN, which wants to improve education and understanding of gambling harm. It was set up in 2020 by Kishan Patel, a fifth year medical student. "Growing up I was massively affected by my dad's addiction," he says. "There were times when my family really struggled for money and there was a big cultural stigma in my community too, where people wouldn't want to talk to us because of it." Kishan's dad died eight years ago and he has seen the emotional and mental impact of gambling first hand. But he says it isn't thought of as a health concern in the same way as drugs or alcohol addiction is: "There are guidelines for health professionals around these issues, but gambling is neglected when it shouldn't be." He would like it to become something GPs consider asking vulnerable patients about, in the same way they might do with other addictions: "Just a simple question like, 'Do you gamble?' could help open up the conversation. It's a really serious health issue we need to be addressing."