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More about Gamcare

We know that there is a lack of awareness generally about the severity of the impacts of problem gambling, the nature of the problem and the sources of help available and we want to make sure that those in difficulty know how we can help. Often, because of stigma and shame, people don’t disclose that gambling is the problem – which means that stress mounts up because of hiding it. Gamcare’s new service in Manchester is for anyone affected by problem gambling, providing free face to face counselling locally, accessed through GamCare’s national telephone and online helplines. All our services are for anyone concerned about the amount of time or money that they, or someone close to them, are spending gambling. GamCare’s help is specialist, non-judgemental, completely confidential and one to one.

GamCare’s specialist face to face counselling for problem gamblers and others affected by their problem gambling behaviour is now available in new areas of England and Scotland.

In the South West, this one to one confidential service is available additionally to those in the regions of East and West Devon, Teignbridge and Exeter, West Dorset, West and South Somerset and Taunton Deane. Steven James Counselling, based in Poole, provides this service.

In the North West, GamCare’s partner CIC is extending its Merseyside service to cover Cheshire, Wigan, Chorley, Fylde, South Ribble, West Lancs, Sefton and the Wirral.

There is now a service available to those in Derbyshire, delivered by Nottingham-based APAS and in Essex, provided by Breakeven.

In Scotland, counselling delivered by the RCA Trust is now extended cross Tayside, East Fife and Dumfries, covering Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Leven, Burntisland, Cowdenbeath, Carnoustie, Arbroath, Forfar, Montrose, Blairgowrie, St Andrews, Dumfries, Castle Douglas and Carnoustie.

National charity GamCare trains and funds counselling, clinical supervision and administration of each problem gambling service, and counselling is provided free of charge to the client. Anyone wishing to access GamCare’s face to face counselling should get in touch through the telephone or online helplines at 0845 6000 133 and www.gamcare.org.uk.

For specific information on GamCare counselling please go to
http://www.gamcare.org.uk/pages/counselling_support.html

GamCare and its regional partners can provide posters and leaflets for display in your surgeries, or electronic versions for print on demand or plasma screens: please contact eileen.kinghan@gamcare.org.uk on 020 7801 7003.

In 2009/10, calls from 18-25 year olds also rose by 22% on the previous year. GamCare also saw changes in the gambling behaviour reported by its female callers, with a 14% rise in female callers gambling on the Internet and increases in female callers gambling on fruit and slot machines and bingo.

Charity GamCare’s national telephone and online helpline teams answered over 35,000 calls in 2009/10, including a 47% increase in callers to the NetLine, which is favoured by female and younger gamblers. The statistics are in the 2010 GamCare Annual Review, published today.

An increase in people getting in touch with GamCare ultimately means that there are fewer problem gamblers, and reflects greater awareness of the help we can offer those in need. 23% of callers found out about GamCare from leaflets and stickers displayed by the gambling industry.

GamCare’s specially trained advisers offer callers emotional support, practical advice and signposting to relevant services. 19% in 2009/10 were referred to specialist counselling. The percentage of callers referred to software to block gambling websites doubled to 12%.

Gambling activities of female callers to the HelpLine and NetLine:

2009/10
Fruit and slot machines 36%
Bingo 19%
Table Games 14%
FOBTs 8%

2008/09
Fruit and slot machines 23%
Bingo 9%
Table Games 33%
FOBTs 6%

We saw a slightly higher percentage of female clients across our face to face and online counselling services: 17% compared to 15% in 2008/09, and the percentage of female clients in OnLine Counselling increased by 9%.

The overall increase in clients in counselling was 34% but we saw 44% more 18-25 year olds.

Across gender, the pattern of gambling behaviour is little changed. Most callers and clients in counselling are male and gamble in the betting shop. The rise in male callers gambling on the Internet was just 4% and there was no increase in clients gambling on the Internet. But 17% of female clients in counselling were gambling in betting shops compared to 8% in 2008/09.

The prevalence of problem gambling amongst adolescents is three times higher than that amongst adults. 40% of clients aged 18-25 were gambling in the betting shop. The predominant gambling activities they gave were FOBTs (15%) and fruit/slot machines (14%), followed by betting on events (10%) and horses (9%). No clients under 18 said they gambled on the Internet and just 13% of clients aged 18-25.

GamCare CEO Andy McLellan says:

“This is a serious wake-up call that we need to take seriously the wider accessibility of gambling and the real importance of education and wider awareness of responsible gambling, particularly for women and young people. We want anyone who needs our help to know that they can call us in complete confidence, on the phone or online, and that we are there to help, not to judge. We also want to do much more, targeted prevention work – very little is going on at present but as soon as the funds can be made available we are ready with our partners to launch new initiatives.

“We also need to look carefully at online gambling. In many ways, operators have more opportunities online to help the player, for example by putting in place checks and controls which anyone can set themselves. Anyone gambling online should look for the GamCare Certification logo, which shows that the operator – wherever they are operating from – has satisfied us that they have a reliable approach to player protection.”

GamCare's annual review is available online at http://www.gamcare.org.uk/pages/annual_review_2010.html

Press contact:
Eileen Kinghan, GamCare, 020 7801 7003, 07535 459 753, eileen.kinghan@gamcare.org.uk

NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. GamCare, established in 1997, is a registered charity and the leading national provider of counselling, advice and practical help for anyone experiencing or affected by problem gambling. GamCare’s immediate, confidential one-to-one support services are the telephone HelpLine and online NetLine. Also online we have a Forum and ChatRoom. We deliver counselling face to face in London, Manchester, nationally through a network of partner agencies, and online. Counselling is free to clients although donations are welcomed. We train our Partners in treating problem gambling and fund them to deliver support to anyone who needs it. For more information about GamCare and how it is funded, and for problem gambling statistics go to http://www.gamcare.org.uk/pages/faqs.html.

2. In 2009/10 GamCare:

• Answered over 35,000 calls and 47% more calls to the NetLine than in 2008/09
• Helped more than 2000 clients in counselling, delivering over 20,000 counselling sessions
• Funded five of our seventeen counselling Partners to develop services in new areas
• Launched our counselling service in Greater Manchester
• Delivered 32 training sessions in social responsibility to the gambling industry, 10 of them in other jurisdictions
• Saw an 89% rise in new users of our online Forum
• Received over 255,000 unique visitors to www.gamcare.org.uk, 39% more than in 2008/09
• Distributed 90,000 leaflets, 17,000 posters and 5,000 GamCare pens

Callers to our helplines:

• Over 52% of female callers were calling about someone else’s gambling
• Over 30% of partners, family & friends calling the NetLine (who disclosed an amount of debt) owed between £6,000 and £50,000, and 4% were bankrupt.
• 30% of 18-25 year olds owed between £6K and £10K

3. More data will be available at www.gamcare.org.uk from August 2010.

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