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I was privileged to take part in BBC Radio 4's Money Box. The show included discussion with Matt Gaskell, Clinical Lead at The NHS Northern Gambling Service, Anna Hemmings, CEO of Gamcare, Jack Symons, Gamban and myself and Stacey Goodwin who brought the lived experience perspective to the show. Topics discussed included industry practice, enticements, advertising, support services and recovery. The programme was presented by Charmaine Cozier.

The National Education Group are a multi-award winning provider of remote, expert-led CPD, with a mission to empower schools in the UK and overseas to drive up standards. Recently we were approached by The National Education Group to support in providing information and copy for a guide on sports betting and the risks that parents and carers need to know, to protect children (see below). The guide was shared on National Online Safety which has over 300,000 users in over 40 countries and shared on their social media platforms which has over 43,000 followers. We look forward to working with The National Education Group on future initiatives.

On Saturday 17th July the gambling harms / recovery community, family and friends, all came together at the home of Billericay Town Football club, to watch a charity football match between the All Bets Are Off podcast and charity YouTube football team, Peoples FC. The teams were comprised of individuals harmed by gambling and players from the Peoples FC to create two evenly-matched and well-balanced squads. The All Bets Are Off team was managed by co-host of the pod Chris' father John Gilham, whilst Peoples FC were led by Steve Watts, the founder of GamFam. Our friends at Gamban sponsored the match in the name of the TalkBanStop campaign which they are a part of, alongside GamCare and GAMSTOP. EPIC Risk Management were our matchball sponsors and kindly provided nine brand new Premier League footballs for the warm-up and match itself. A number of our allies from within the gambling harms education, prevention and treatment world supported us by purchasing advertising space in the matchday programme. They include RecoverMe, Gambling Guardian, Reframe Coaching, Betknowmore, Deal Me Out and EPIC Restart Foundation. This helped to cover the cost of printing and so every programme sold could go towards the three causes that we were raising money for (you can download a PDF version of the matchday programme below). The event was incredibly well received by everyone who participated and the sepctators, many of whom work within gambling harm prevention and/or whom campaign for positive legislative change. We were also joined by representatives from NHS mental wellbeing service VitaMinds, who gave a talk on the subject of mental health. Prior to kick-off the players and spectators held an extremely emotional one minute applause for all those that had lost their lives to gambling-related harms and mental health problems. It was an incredibly hot day but that didn't impact the quality of football on display. The All Bets Are Off team triumped 4-3 in a pulsating, yet very close, game of football. Collectively we were able to raise £2370.06, which was split between the following three chosen causes: NHS Northern Gambling Service, Gamvisory's Hardship Fund and Rosie's Legs. Each receiving £790.02. At the full-time whistle many people commented on how much that they had enjoyed the day and were already asking us whether this would be an annual event. Given its success we can confirm that we will be making this a permanent fixture. We would like to thank everyone that came and supported us and all those that contributed, Billericay Town Football Club for being magnificent hosts as always, and the fantastic volunteers who ran the gate and car park for us. The full 90-minute match can be found on YouTube by clicking 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."

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%

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.

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.

On Thursday 9th December 2021, the 'Preventing Gambling Harm in Diverse Communities' initiative took a further step in helping twenty-eight more students grasp an awareness and understanding of gambling harms as we delivered our second workshop to Newham Sixth Form College (NewVic). A truly remarkable workshop, challenging questions, engaging responses, and a brilliant reaction to our new short film; Do It For Her. It still rings true that Newham Sixth Form College is a school we believe can gain a lot from our workshops. Research shows that in 2015 one street in Newham, High Street North, ranked first in the nine worst-hit streets for gambling losses in London, with punters losing £3 million pounds (see this article for further reading: Revealed: London's worst-hit streets for gambling on fixed odds betting machines | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard) Thank you, Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc), for recognising the significance of gambling harm on young people and for allowing us to come in to deliver our free specialist workshops to the students. We look forward to our working relationship in the future.

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.

Join us for our event about gambling-harm on 16/9/21 at 6pm on Zoom with Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE and Kishan Patel.

I took part in this short documentary that addresses the consequences of lockdown and how this can negatively impact individuals who suffer from a gambling addiction. It also features Matt Zarb-Cousin, Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Danny Cheetham, and Martin Paterson. Click here to watch on YouTube.

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