Spotlight on GamCare
When the official Gambling Review Report – better known as the Budd Report, named for gambling review body chairman Sir Alan Budd – was released last year in the United Kingdom, it generated an overwhelming buzz within the gaming industry. For one organization, GamCare, a fledgling group dedicated to raising awareness of gambling and problem gambling, the impact of the Budd Report was dramatic, immediately thrusting it into the spotlight.
Before the report was issued, a person wanting information on problem gambling or needing treatment for a gambling disorder seemed to have few options. Although GamCare had been in existence for four years, few people knew about its mission to provide gambling treatment, educational resources and counselor training. With the release of the Budd Report, however, GamCare gained the visibility it needed to generate increased funding and staffing and, ultimately, increase awareness for its cause.
Based in London, GamCare is the only charity in the U.K. dedicated to disordered gambling. The organization's unique, comprehensive and gambling neutral approach to increasing public awareness combines education, counseling and training practices.
The counseling program is GamCare's most recognized service. A national help line is available for problem gamblers and their friends and families. It is staffed 12 hours a day by professional GamCare-trained counselors and volunteers, and GamCare officials expect the help line to be available 24 hours a day by next year.
The help line often leads callers to one-on-one counseling also offered by trained GamCare counselors and treatment providers. This face-to-face service is available to anyone with a gambling dependency and to those who have loved ones with a gambling disorder. Similar to other gambling treatment programs, the main goals of GamCare counseling are to help reduce the frequency of gambling, develop ways of coping with gambling behavior and understand some of the underlying reasons why gambling has become a problem.
GamCare's educational outreach begins with brochures and other collateral material on general gambling and problem gambling information, as well as overviews of GamCare services and procedures. The pamphlets target problem gambling treatment practitioners, kids and teens, problem gamblers and their friends and family, as well as the general public. One brochure aimed at kids and teenagers includes the odds of winning certain games, a list of minimum legal age requirements to play games in the U.K., suggestions to keep gambling safe and under control, and, lastly, asks questions about one's gambling habits to determine the possibility of a disorder.
In addition to these educational materials, GamCare serves as a clearinghouse for gambling-related research, studies and other documents, and it also promotes and provides funding for additional research projects. GamCare develops and engineers social education, problem prevention and informational programs in the form of workshops, seminars and lectures to teach the public and the gaming industry about these subjects in the U.K.
One of GamCare's most recent undertakings involved providing guidance to companies that began operating Internet gambling Web sites on the Isle of Man. One of those companies, MGM MIRAGE, consulted with GamCare on its site development in order to provide the safest online environment possible for Web gamblers.
"There was a regular interaction as the site was being developed, and whenever we made suggestions, MGM MIRAGE Online was incredibly cooperative, while keeping in mind the commercial requirements," Peter Cox, director of operations at GamCare, told Intergaming magazine. "We have been very encouraged by their approach. Of course, it is an ongoing process and one which we are now engaged in with other operations. But I would say that MGM MIRAGE has broken new ground."
GamCare's reach includes a professional training component as well. A selection of training courses is available for those wishing to increase their awareness of gambling disorders and develop their skills for working with those who may have a gambling problem. These classes are of value to those seeking counseling licensure, as well as those who wish to broaden their general knowledge of the social impact of gambling.
More information about GamCare can be found on its Web site.
