The Euros are now well underway and the excitement is building as each game passes by.
However, major competitions like this one aren’t exhilarating for everyone. For people with gambling problems it can be a really tough time, and this is reflected in the calls GamCare, who operate the National Gambling Helpline, are expecting to receive over the next month.
GamCare, Gamban and GAMSTOP have all come together as part of the TalkBanStop campaign to raise awareness of gambling issues and the helpful tools they can provide.
Gambling can hit women especially hard as they’re more likely to be shameful of their gambling habits and are hesitant to reach out when they’re struggling.
CEO at GamCare, Anna Hemmings, explained what the TalkBanStop campaign is and what they’re hoping to achieve, spoke about how significant former England international footballer Karen Cairney fronting the campaign is and she gave advice to people who are suffering with a gambling problem or know someone that is.
Could you briefly explain what the TalkBanStop campaign is?
TalkBanStop is a partnership between three partners – GamCare because we operate the National Gambling Helpline that’s available 24 hours a day year-round for people to call. And we’ve partnered with GAMSTOP and Gamban, so GAMSTOP offer the national self-exclusion scheme for online gambling and Gamban offer blocking software at device level so you can’t access gambling websites and so on.
The reason we’ve come together is that we believe that combining tools and support is the most effective first step you can take to address a gambling problem, so in terms of the tools that are available, there’s GamBan and GamStop for blocking software and self-exclusion and also bank blocks as well that you can use. But talking to someone on our helpline is also really important because people become very isolated with a gambling problem, and it has lots of impacts on their lives so just having that someone to talk to can really help. And that doesn’t have to be a phone call, it can be live chat as well, we operate on both platforms.
I guess as well we felt that TalkBanStop is a nice, clear call to action for people. Gambling can feel overwhelming if you’re in the midst of a problem and TalkBanStop offers a reasonably simple one stop shop for people to access the help that they need. We’re trying to make that as easy and simple as possible.
Why is this campaign especially important and prevelant at the moment?
The campaign is running for a year, but we felt that the Euros is a really good time to try and amplify awareness of the campaign because these big sporting events like the Euros which are very high profile and very exciting for football fans are also a point where we get a surge in calls to the helpline from people who are worried about either their own gambling or somebody else’s. Therefore, it’s a really good time for us to make sure that people who want help are aware of how to get it.
We feel generally people don’t talk about gambling and gambling problems enough and we really want to put that on the map in the sense that I liken sometimes to the mental health conversations that we’ve got much better at having over the last 10 years or so, but gambling is a very unrecognised problem. So, just promoting those conversations and promoting the idea that help is available is really important I think, especially around these big events where we do see a surge in people coming forward.
How important is it to get these messages across to women in particular?
Obviously the message is important and relevant to anybody that’s got any sort of problem but for women in particular they sometimes experience more stigma, more difficulty in coming forward than men. I think there’s a stereotype with gambling as a men’s issue but of course women gamble too, and we need to get past those stereotypes. But importantly as well women are often affected by someone else’s gambling so a partner or a loved one, they’re affected in terms of sometimes finances, shortness of money, the person being preoccupied – so women are affected in a number of ways but can sometimes find it harder to pick up the phone or start a live chat or take some action that men do.
Particularly with Karen Cairney coming on board, she’s such a great ambassador for this campaign in the sense that women’s football too is gaining a much better profile in recent years. Connecting it all together for this campaign seems to be hopefully working really well.
How significant is it having former England footballer Karen Cairney front the campaign?
Obviously we’re absolutely delighted and so grateful for her support because it really helps shine a light on the issues really and raise their profile. She’s got more reach than we could ever hope for without her, so it’s just fantastic that she’s come on board because when higher profile people recognise these issues it can really help other people open up that conversation.
Again, I’d liken it to mental health, we’ve seen so many high-profile people talk about mental health issues and if we can achieve even a small part of that with gambling, we’d be so grateful. Because people do come forward quite late for help actually, people tend to come forward when there’s a crisis and when things have got overwhelming and difficult for them and if they came forward earlier, they’d experience much less harm and fewer problems connected to their gambling. It’s really about raising the profile; we’re chuffed to bits that she’s agreed to help us.
What do you hope to achieve with this campaign?
It’s an awareness raising campaign plus a straightforward call to action so in terms of awareness we’re looking to promote the conversation and to help people recognise that gambling can be a risky activity for some people and that those people should seek help as early as possible. And of course, we want to see more people coming forward because a very small proportion of people with gambling problems ever come forward for help and less than they do with other types of problem. We want to see more people seeking help at an earlier stage.
What would be your message to people reading this who are currently struggling with their gambling habits or know someone that is?
The first thing is pick up the phone, start a live chat, contact the National Gambling Helpline at 0808 8020 133. Or go to talkbanstop.com. My message I suppose is one of hope, the support is really effective, the tools are very effective, particularly when they’re layered together as we’re recommending with TalkBanStop.
Things can get better, it can feel overwhelming when you’re in the midst of a problem but if you do reach out and just take that first step, often people feel much better doing so and continue to recover really, really well from gambling problems.
Find out more information about the help and tools available at talkbanstop.com or call the National Gambling Helpline at 0808 8020 133.
Words by Lucy Roberts for Female First. You can follow Lucy on Twitter @Lucy_Roberts_72.