British Activists Make Punter Depiction

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The national safer gambling campaign “Bet Regret”, launched last week in Britain, has identified 2.4 million young men aged 16-34 as the demographic at the highest risk of having a penchant for gambling. But members of their families are also at risk.

As stated on the campaign website, people are more likely to be exposed to compulsive gambling when they are bored, drunk or in an altered state of consciousness. Researchers call a predilection for gambling the “hidden addiction.” Compared to alcohol or drug addiction, betting does not have a visible physical effect, but the stress experienced by family members and friends of the gambling addict is no less upsetting.

Also, any previous cases of gambling addiction in the family or a juvenile susceptibility towards gambling can become one of the indicators that should arise concern for punters. Thus, there must be a special focus on young people, to help prevent them from falling into the category of risky gamblers.

The central element of the campaign is an advert aimed at making gamers think twice before betting. On February 24, the “Bet Regret” campaign advert ran first during the live air of match between Manchester United and Liverpool soccer teams.

“Bet Regret” campaign is an initiative of the British charity organization GambleAware, which dealt with educational activities in this area. GambleAware conveys that the campaign is one of the many actions the government is taking for the good of society and is designed to make the Gambling sector socially responsible to the community. This is part of massive anti-gambling campaign rolled out in the UK by the Gambling Commission and organizations, which is aimed at restricting the gambling activities in the country.

Multiple pieces of research, advice from academics and experts in the betting sphere, and a variety of interviews with sports bettors and number of focus-groups were all necessary logical steps towards campaign development. According to survey figures provided by GambleAware, around 2 million adults have reported suffering harm from gambling activity. And almost 340,000 people have gambling-related problems.

Extensive data about the actual tendencies of younger male punters from the survey carried out by Ipsos MORI, acting in charge of GambleAware, indicate that 63% poll respondents believe there are too many chances to stake in the UK, and 67% believe that it is easy to get hooked on gambling.

Mims Davies, head of the Sport and Civil Society Ministry, is sure that the campaign will going to have a positive effect on people. According to her version, it makes them pause to think before betting impulsively, to get a clear impression of the harm gambling can cause, and to share their feelings with some close people who can help them.

However, some experts are rather more doubtful about the prospects of success for “Bet Regret.” Rebecca Cassidy, an academic at Goldsmiths, University of London, finds this social action to be controversial because of the stress on self-blaming. She offers to focus on addiction prevention and a more proactive policy instead.

Liz Ritchie, a co-founder of the charity Gambling with Lives, shares Rebecca’s view here, and points out that self-chastisement borders on suicide. Her concerns derive from those cases where feelings of regret can aggravate one’s already fragile psychological condition.