Safer Gambling Week 2024 starts today as industry highlights gambling tools and advice
SAFER Gambling Week starts today.
The annual event is a cross-industry initiative to promote safer gambling in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is to run from the 18th – 24th November 2024.
Now in its eighth year, Safer Gambling Week is an initiative is designed to drive awareness of how to approach gambling responsibly.
It encourages customers experiencing gambling problems to seek help and advice from organisations such as GamCare and GambleAware.
Bookmakers throughout the betting industry will also highlight the many safer gambling tools available to help customers stay in control of their gambling.
Some of the most useful tools available include:
- Reality Checks: Reality check timers allow you to set up on-screen alerts to monitor how long you are spending gambling.
- Deposit Limits: You can manage the amount of money that you are able to deposit into your account.
- Time-Out: A time out allows you to take a short break from gambling, enabling you to block access to your account. Most operators offer a choice of a 24-hour, 1 week, 1 month or 6 weeks time out time out.
- Self Exclusion: If you think you are spending too much time or money gambling, you can volunteer to ban yourself from in-person or online gambling for a set period of time, usually between 6 months and 5 years.
- Website Blocking: You can monitor or restrict access to gambling sites with software such as GamBlock or Betfilter.
- Banking: Most major banks now offer the ability to limit your spending on gambling. Some offer a card locking or account blocking feature for gambling transactions. Most requests can be made online with your individual bank.
The annual campaign will build on last year’s successful event in November when the number of customers using safer gambling tools soared, 54 per cent of players setting deposit limits during the week, did so for the first time.
And the number of players actively setting a reality check during SGW rose by over 300 per cent for the second year in a row.
Safer Gambling Week 2023 also smashed previous social media records, generating over 50 million impressions across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Baroness Twycross, Minister for Gambling said: "Safer Gambling Week is a good opportunity to recognise the important work being done to help protect those at risk of gambling harms.
"We welcome the industry using this week to highlight the tools and support available to prevent people suffering potentially life-changing harm."
Grainne Hurst, Chief Executive of the BGC, said: “Safer Gambling Week is about showcasing safer gambling tools that exist in the regulated industry all year round to ensure that the millions of people who enjoy a regular flutter, continue to do so in a safe and responsible environment.
“Previous years have shown that this campaign leads to increased use of those popular safer gambling tools - like time-outs and deposit limits.”
For more information on Safer Gambling Week, please visit www.safergamblingweek.org. Safer Gambling Week social channels are also live: @SGWeek on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram.
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
- Gamcare –
- Gamble Aware –
Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to