GambleAware calls for evidence-based approach in safer gambling messaging

GambleAware, a champion for promoting safer gambling in the United Kingdom, has launched a new appeal to the industry, lawmakers, and regulators, to change the nature of how safer gambling message is used and how it appears across various media. The organization urged those in charge to ensure that evidence-based health warnings are used moving forward so that consumers may be properly informed and aware of the challenges they face.

One of the key focuses should be, argues GambleAware, a compelling safer gambling messaging that makes players stop and think about their gambling habits. These recommendations are part of a comprehensive campaign that includes the "Take Time to Think" report which was commissioned by the organization from The Outsiders and YouGov and interviewed 7,000 people about what they thought about safer gambling messaging as it were.

According to the report’s result, there simply is not enough in the safer gambling messaging used right now by the industry to properly highlight the risks that consumers fail. In other words, such messages are missing the target by not informing consumers effectively about the dangers of gambling-related harm for one.

To change that, the messaging would have to change to be clearer, more memorable, and more impactful.

Commenting on this, GambleAware Chief Communications Officer Alexia Clifford said that this should be considered a serious public health issue, and that it was crucial to ensure that such messages are made more compelling in the future.

"We’re also concerned about operators’ misuse of the GambleAware logo and the lack of clear signposting to support channels. We urge industry to take heed of the growing body of evidence highlighting the need for better safeguards and restrictions," Clifford said.

Clifford was joined by Dr Raffaello Rossi who is co-author of the report and also a lecturer in marketing at Bristol University, arguing that it was crucial for safer gambling messaging to hit its intended mark and ensure that consumers are properly aware of the dangers of gambling and gambling-related harms, including the activity’s highly addictive nature.

"We need to see better regulation of gambling operators who are widely bombarding us with their ads," Rossi said. Safer gambling messaging and proper gambling advertisement have been at the core of an ongoing debate about the anticipated changes to the UK’s gambling law that will introduce a host of measures designed to specifically minimize the harm related to gambling. In the past weeks, GambleAware has also called for a clearer distinction between the terms "gaming" and "gambling," accusing the industry of purposefully seeking to equate the terms.

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