Sheffield plays key role in national event urging people to gamble reponsibly

Sheffield will be hosting a responsible gambling information point as part of the first ever Responsible Gambling Week, a national, cross-industry awareness campaign running from October 12-18 which aims to get everyone talking about what it means to gamble responsibly.

The information point, which will run at Fargate, Sheffield from Friday 13th October to Sunday 15th October from 10am to 2pm, is one of 29 dedicated points across the country and is being run in conjunction with specialist gambling charity GamCare. The public are being invited to visit the information point to speak to trained staff to find out more information about responsible gambling and the tools available to encourage people to gamble responsibly.

Responsible Gambling Week, which is led by the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG), will see every sector of the gambling industry in Great Britain taking part (arcades, bingo clubs, bookmakers, casinos and online). This means more than 10,000 gambling venues and online sites and 121,000 employees will be taking part through a range of activities, including at 87 venues in Sheffield, including Mecca Bingo Sheffield and Napoleon’s Casino Club Sheffield (Ecclesall) making this the biggest ever pan-industry social responsibility campaign. Activities through the week, include:

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Displaying posters, leaflets, banners and other information points about Responsible Gambling Week in their venues, websites and on social media channels, encouraging conversations about gambling responsibly

Making sure staff at their venues and online sites continue to be points of contact for their customers on how to gamble responsibly

Across the country the campaign will also:

Work in partnership with the national specialist charities, GambleAware and GamCare, to raise awareness about responsible gambling through their websites and communication channels

Host online chatrooms and interactive Q&A sessions on social media through dedicated Twitter and Facebook accounts to help to encourage discussions about responsible gambling more broadly

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Hold an event in Parliament to help brief politicians on what it means to gamble responsibly and what they can do to share the message with their constituents

Sarah Harrison, Gambling Commission Chief Executive, said: “We’re pleased to see the industry coming together for Responsible Gambling Week to raise everyone’s awareness of responsible gambling. It is imperative that gambling operators meet their obligations and take every step to ensure gambling is safe.”

Sir Christopher Kelly, Chair of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, said: “Public engagement is one of the twelve priority actions identified in the National Responsible Gambling Strategy. We need to learn from the experience of consumers and their families, and to use this to make gambling safer. So I welcome the theme of IGRG’s Responsible Gambling Week “let’s talk about responsible gambling.”

“Let’s make sure we learn as much as we can from it.”

John Hagan, Chairman of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling, said: “Social responsibility is fundamental to the gambling industry’s approach, and we are all dedicated, year-round, to promoting responsible gambling. But what makes this week so special is that the whole industry is coming together to support Responsible Gambling Week.

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“We have operators across Great Britain and across all gambling activities, including in Sheffield, taking part. Their full support and involvement is essential to the success of Responsible Gambling Week. It is what will help us reach more people than ever before.”

To find out more about Responsible Gambling Week visit www.ResponsibleGamblingWeek.co.uk , visit our Facebook page www.facebook.com/RGWeek2017/ or follow us on @RGWeek2017