PA Podcast: Listen to licensing solicitor, Elizabeth Varley, discuss Safer Gambling Week

In this episode, licensing and gambling solicitor, Elizabeth Varley, discusses Safer Gambling Week.

Click here to listen to the podcast 

Find the transcript below:

Paula 

Welcome and welcome back to the Poppleston Allen podcast where we discuss licensing topics to help you and also me get a better understanding of what licensing is all about.  

In this month’s episode we are discussing Safer Gambling Week which runs from the 18th to 24th November 2024. Now in its 7th year, the campaign aims to emphasize on engaging players, industry professionals and community organisations. In discussions around safer gambling practices, mental well-being and accessible support services.  

So to help us answer a few industry led questions, I thought I would bring in our licensing and gambling solicitor, Elizabeth Varley.  

Alright, so the first question is what is safer gambling? 

Elizabeth 

So safer gambling is about helping people stay in control when they are gambling so they don’t spend more than what they want to. But beyond that, it’s also about financing, research, education, and prevention of treatment for gambling related harms. 

Paula 

So the follow up question is what does Safer Gambling Week aim to achieve? 

Elizabeth 

So safer Gambling Week has been running for about 7 years now, and the aim is to promote safer gambling within the industry. It’s an industry wide commitment with the aim of reducing harm from gambling. Its aim really is to create conversations between operators, staff, and customers about not only how to gamble safely, but the tools available to help responsible gambling and the sources available for support. The initiative itself is cross sector, so it applies to venues like High Street bookmakers, bingo halls, casinos, but also our online operators too. 

Paula 

And how does it impact the gambling industry? 

Elizabeth 

So the obligation to promote safer gambling is obviously an all way around obligation that’s on our operators, but Safer Gambling Week itself is about having a dedicated week to focus on safer gambling. It’s about knowledge sharing and it’s basically what we just spoke about earlier really. So having the tools available and the resources available to help anyone that might need some extra help or information. 

Paula 

From a licensing viewpoint, is there anything gambling operators can consider adapting or continue doing to ensure Safer Gambling Week’s success? 

Elizabeth 

It’s about general awareness really and making sure that your staff are aware, so it might be a training point of view, so making sure that your staff training is up to date, making sure that they’re engaging and interacting with customers. So that sort of looking for behaviours really in customers is what you need to be looking for to see if anyone might need help. 

 You’ll also have your customer interaction logs that will need to be completed and this is a conversation we have with operators quite a lot in terms of how they need to be filled out. So even if you were to go over to a customer and interact with them and you were happy with the outcome and happy that that individual was safe and happy in themselves, when they’re gambling, still log that down, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to have an interaction with someone and it goes anywhere that log is for any sort of interaction you may have, positive or not.  

It’s also knowing about what customers may do to keep themselves safe, so there’s self exclusion, they might set time limits or spend limits, or they may wish to take breaks away from their gambling activity. You’ll also need to have resources available on site if you’re a land based operator or have links on your website if you are based online. 

Paula 

The next question is how do licensing conditions incorporate safer gambling principles? 

Elizabeth 

To provide facilities for gambling in Great Britain, whether that be remote or non-remote, you need to have an operating licence which has been issued by the Gambling Commission, now attached to all these licences are the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice which within the industry is often abbreviated to the LCCP, so it might be that you’re familiar with that piece of terminology.  

The LCCP cover a range of requirements, but relevant to this conversation is the requirement to encourage responsible gambling, so that is an obligation that is placed on all operators. But what operators will find is that the LCCP frame their policies and procedures anyway, so they will have these procedures in place that they need to adhere to. 

Paula 

So moving away from licensing, what can operators do to promote the week? 

Elizabeth  

So drawing Safer Gambling Week, you’ll likely see an increase in marketing materials from operators, so that might be their internal marketing material, or it might be that they’re looking at trade organisations that are publishing materials that can be used by operators. It’s also a really good time just generally to encourage conversations with your colleagues and customers and making sure that everyone is gambling responsibly. 

Paula 

Thank you for joining and listening to this month’s episode.  

Based on the conversation that we’ve just had with Elizabeth today, I hope that we are able to give you a better understanding on Safer Gambling Week.  

If you do have any other questions regarding this, please feel free to contact Elizabeth on her e-mail on e.varley@popall.co.uk. Or please feel free to contact any of our other gambling licensing solicitors which you can find on our website at www.popall.co.uk and Poppleston Allen on all our other social media platforms.  

For further information and Safer Gambling Week, please feel free to head to the Safer Gambling Week website where a range of resources and training materials are available. These resources are tailored to help individuals and organisations better understand and address gambling related issues and harm with specific sections for the gambling industry, professionals and parents, carers, schools, youth workers and universities.