“A loud Wake-up Call for Betting Industry” report finds

Staff advised on lucky chairs and even betting strategies

A new report out says that “The betting industry must do much more to protect players from harm and train staff to encourage safety among customers.”

The latest study commissioned by the charity GambleAware found that betting office staff had no suitable training in spotting problem gambling among their customers and many of the staff thought that measures on problem gambling were ineffective and a waste of time.

Some staff held beliefs that customers should “chase their losses” and use a lucky chair while playing Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs), along with some saying “stick to your lucky numbers”.

Even worse says the report was that messages aimed at protecting problem gamblers and where to seek help were placed in less obvious places than promotional marketing material.

GambleAware said the findings should be “a loud wake-up call” for the betting industry

GambleAware chief executive Marc Etches said: “This is a loud wake-up call to the gambling industry. Frankly, the gambling industry must do much better to ensure staff and customers know when, how and where to seek help.

“This report shows where the gaps are. Significant investment of time and effort is needed to protect players better from gambling-related harm in the first place.

“We hope the industry heeds the call to step up and give the wellbeing of customers much greater priority.”

Paul Hope, from the Gambling Commission, said: “This report is the first of its kind, and we welcome the approach taken by the industry to come together and work collaboratively to identify what areas need to be improved.

“We look forward to the next phase of trialling and evaluation, and to widespread commitment to implement the best practice approaches that emerge.”