News
Delivery of specialist help for problem gamblers under threat
27 November 2009
Funding for GamCare’s integrated and specialist national help services for problem gamblers is under threat by a proposal from the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board to ‘commission a national telephone help and advice line with web support’ at a cost of £1m a year. 250,000 gambling machines around the country, advice websites, gambling premises and countless leaflets bear the GamCare number. In 2008, over 50,000 people contacted us for practical help, advice, emotional support and signposting from GamCare’s team of specifically trained and experienced advisers. Our frontline services, by ‘phone and online, cost GamCare just £800,000 a year to run.
The proposal is one of several put forward by the Strategy Board for problem gambling treatment and prevention. The Strategy Board also proposes £50k to redevelop the underused Gamble Aware website. Not one of GamCare’s 332,000 web visitors in 2009 have come via this site.
Chief Executive Andy McLellan said:
“Problem gambling may be costing the country as much as £2 billion a year. We know that less than 1% of people who could benefit from treatment are actually getting it. So the need for action is not only clear – it is also urgent.
“We fully endorse the RGSB’s commitment to making decisions based on evidence and evaluation, and therefore welcome their proposals to review best practice in the fields of prevention and treatment. This work is overdue, and we will cooperate fully to find out what works and to improve our services.
“But we think the Board has been premature in coming to conclusions in advance of this review.
“An independent and impartial national helpline already exists and is working well. The GamCare HelpLine, costing just over £800k in 2008/9, is valued by its users, other treatment providers and the industry, which has made a considerable investment over 12 years in its creation, development and promotion. 94% of its users say it is either excellent or very good. It is far from clear what benefits there would be for problem gamblers or their families in creating a new helpline with a new number. We are particularly concerned that the RGSB thinks the helpline should be separated from treatment provision, when our HelpLine is in fact the first line of treatment. We believe the changes proposed would be detrimental to the quality and effectiveness of the service. There would also be considerable extra one-off and continuing costs for the industry, with no extra benefits for problem gamblers”
Chairman Anthony Jennens added:
“What is needed is urgent action to reach more problem gamblers and their families. The quickest and most efficient way to do this is to build on the work we’re already doing in partnership with other charities and the NHS – and not to ignore the investment the industry has made over more than 12 years. At this time of public expenditure cuts, it seems to us unrealistic to expect the NHS to take on the lead responsibility for problem gambling, and it is inappropriate to expect the industry to pay for NHS services. Working within the funds being raised now by the industry, we could expand our counselling to reach 90% of Great Britain by 2012, and build stronger relationships between charities, agencies and the NHS at the grassroots, where they really matter to individuals and communities. I do hope the RGSB and the Gambling Commission will think again.”
GamCare also
- encourages the RGSB to explore further the scope for synergies in research funded by other parts of Government, so allowing more of the funds raised by industry to go towards treatment and prevention
- proposes a clearer distinction between the research needed to allow the Government and the regulator to inform its policies, legislation and regulation – which are legitimately areas for Government funding – and those areas directly connected to treatment and prevention, which seem appropriate for industry funding
- urges much greater clarity about the purpose, costs and benefits of the Gambleaware website before funding is committed to it.
GamCare's full response is available here.
Press contact:
Eileen Kinghan, GamCare, 020 7801 7003, eileen@gamcare.org.uk
Notes to editors
1. The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (see http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/gh-strategy_board.aspx) was created by the Gambling Commission at the beginning of the year and is chaired by Baroness Neuberger DBE. It gives advice to the Gambling Commission and Minister on the strategy and priorities for using industry funds for research, prevention and treatment of problem gambling. Its report, published on 14 October as formal advice to the Gambling Commission, included inter alia recommendations to:
- Commission a national telephone and web helpline which must be separate from existing treatment services
- Undertake a review of best practice in the fields of treatment delivery and education/prevention
- Fund the training of GPs and other NHS professionals in problem gambling
- Fund three NHS treatment pilots
- Fund research into high stake/high prize gaming machines
2. 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 free counselling face to face in London, Manchester, nationally through a network of partner agencies, and online. 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.
3. Anyone concerned about the amount of time or money that they or someone close to them is spending gambling can talk direct and in confidence to an adviser from 8am to midnight on our HelpLine 0845 6000 133 and its equivalent online, NetLine at www.gamcare.org.uk. We take a non-judgemental approach and offer one to one immediate advice and support, as well as information about how to access local counselling and other relevant services such as money advice. GamCare’s counselling is tailored to the individual’s needs. Reasons for continuing to gamble despite negative consequences can be complex and gambling sometimes can offer a means of escape from seemingly intolerable thoughts and feelings. Our counsellors employ a range of therapeutic approaches to facilitate discovery of the underlying reasons for the problem gambling behaviour, with the intention of achieving long term change.