The British gambling industry charity, GambleAware, has said that awareness of the National Gambling Treatment Service (NGTS) is continuing to grow.
This comes after a series of promotional campaigns were recently carried out by the organisation.
NGTS awareness is growing
Back in spring last year, GambleAware launched the NGTS awareness campaign, with four bursts of media targeting men and one aimed at women. The project ran across newspapers, magazines, out-of-home advertising, online and radio, with the intention of reaching high-risk gamblers experiencing gambling harms.
According to an announcement from last week, the charity revealed that figures from the initiative included that by August 2021, 60% of high-risk gamblers reached through the campaign contacted the NGTS as a first step if they had concerns about their gambling. This figure was up from 47% in May 2020.
The charity explained that high-risk gamblers were gambling more as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with this number rising from 24% in May 2020 to 38% in August 2021.
Additionally, call and online chats to the NGTS National Gambling Helpline were up 41% over the 12-month period from March 2019 and March 2021.
Diving deeper into the figures
The charity announced there was a notable rise in the number of high-risk male gamblers attempting to change their gambling behaviours, with 34% in August 2021 saying they used the NGTS or National Gambling Helpline. Approximately 33% of those not yet attempting to change their gambling behaviours said they would be likely to contact the service if they did.
In terms of wider awareness of the NGTS, the charity said that campaign recognition grew wave-on-wave, reaching74% amongst high-risk male gamblers in August 2021 and 79% among affected others.
Further analysis from Ipsos Mori revealed that total awareness of the NGTSnow stands at 40% of all high-risk male gamblers and 50% of the important audience of affected others.
The charity also explained that the campaign was upweighted in London and the Midlands after previous research revealed these regions had higher rates of high-risk gamblers.
According to GambleAware, this additional activity resulted in 40% of all male gamblers between the ages of 16 and 44 in London saying they would contact the NGTS or National Gambling Helpline, compared to 31% across all of Great Britain.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware said: “The National Gambling Treatment Service brings together a network of organisations across Great Britain that provides free confidential treatment and support for anyone experiencing gambling harms.
“It is heartening to see that this campaign is helping to signpost more people to treatment for gambling harms, and also working to drive greater awareness of the provision of treatment services.”
The charity said it will continue to monitor the awareness of the NGTS and the impact of the campaign. The findings from these will be integrated into its ongoing Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey.