GamCare - What is it and why it has our full support?

What is GamCare?

GamCare is the place to go if you suspect or believe you have a gambling problem or if you are being affected in some way by a family member, friend or otherwise who has a gambling problem.

As an independent UK charity all of GamCare’s support, advice and information in regard to problem gambling is completely free.

How do GamCare help?

GamCare offers a suite of support resources including:

• a 24/7 Freephone National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133
• a 24/7 Live, confidential webchat service via their website here
• an extensive community forum
• a group chat option
• self-assessment tools and a huge variety of self-help resources

They also tackle the problem at its core by directly working with the gambling industry to improve their awareness, social responsibility and player protection tools. One approach they use is to train gambling industry staff, especially those dealing directly with customers, on how to recognise potential signs of problem gambling and how to approach and communicate with customers they suspect may be having issues.

Why do we support GamCare?

Whilst Matched Betting is considered to be the polar opposite of gambling as we know exactly what return has been made before an event even starts AND know we will make that return regardless of the outcome of the event, we still need to place bets and use bookmaker websites in order to do what we do.

Without people gambling or betting for entertainment, bookmakers and casinos would not exist and consequently neither would Matched Betting.

The vast majority of gamblers are not problem gamblers (see a recent consumer survey example here), and solely use gambling for a form of entertainment. This is similar to how the vast majority of people popping down to their local pub are not problem drinkers and are solely having a few drinks for enjoyment.

It’s vitally important we support GamCare to keep it this way and to reduce the overall number of problem gamblers too.

If GamCare and similar organisations didn’t exist we can be fairly confident the bookies and casinos would run riot and do very little (if anything) to stop anyone becoming a problem gambler. This is the reason why we support GamCare - to help keep such a scenario from ever happening.