Senet urges engaging responsible gambling campaign

Senet Group has called for the UK industry to adopt a responsible gambling campaign that demonstrates “high levels of engagement with players”.

The organisation, which is dedicated to addressing problem gambling through consumer information programmes, has written to the heads of all the trade associations representing major high street betting, casino, remote gambling, licensed arcades and bingo operators in the UK

Senet’s ‘When the Fun Stops, Stop’ campaign has now reached an estimated 82% of regular UK punters, and the body is calling for companies that do not already carry the messaging to incorporate it into industry advertising and promotional channels.

In March, the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) published revised guidelines for ads, requiring all UK gambling companies to include a responsible gambling message for the full length of all television adverts.

The changes are due to come into effect from the end of June 2018

Gillian Wilmot, chair of Senet, said: “The ‘When the Fun Stops, Stop’ campaign has proven its ability to connect meaningfully with players and to help tackle problem gambling.

“Some seven weeks before the football World Cup kicks off in Russia, during which an estimated £1bn (€1.14bn/$1.38bn) will be wagered in the UK on the competition, the gambling industry has an opportunity to demonstrate its global leadership in self-regulation by uniting behind a powerful responsible messaging campaign that is shown to have excellent engagement levels.

“Senet’s approach to consumer engagement reflects the lessons learnt by public information campaigns over the past 20 years, that positive messaging is more likely to resonate with our target cohort of young men between the ages of 18 and 24, where research indicates that they are more likely to be problem gamblers.”

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