Safer Gambling Training was developed by Ygam and Betknowmore UK, two charities that encourage insight and research into the development of player protection. The initiative itself was devised through real-life experience and remains relevant to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) requirements. It contains six programmes that cover important areas such as understanding customer vulnerability, managing welfare, how to interact with customers and signposting to support services.
John White, bacta Chief Executive, commented: “YGAM and Betknowmore UK are renowned for their safer gambling training and we are proud they have chosen to make it available via the bactaPortal. This initiative is the first of many that will make the bactaPortal indispensable to arcade businesses looking to remove paper from their operations.
"Not only will we populate the bactaPortal with additional training, we will be providing a suite of tools from AV testing logs to crime alerts that will put the bactaPortal at the top of the must-haves for the sector.”
Through the bactaPortal, gambling settings are able to retain paperless records as well as host training modules and store other useful data. As a site, it’s available to everyone though bacta members receive access at a subsidised price.
Since its launch in April 2021, the two charities have sold a combined total of over 14,500 programmes. Training can be completed online with each programme taking about an hour to finish.
The Safer Gambling Team will be in attendance at the EAG conference in London from 1-3 March, with the intention of talking to delegates about the facility and how access to the training is achieved.
Ian Shanahan, YGAM’s Director of Business Development and Fundraising, said: “We’re delighted with this commitment from bacta. It is encouraging to see an influential trade association support our work and I hope more sectors within the gambling industry continue to invest in our City and Guilds Assured Safer Gambling Training. All profits generated from our training are directed back into our charities to further support our social purpose.”
Frankie Graham, Betknowmore UK’s Chief Executive, added: “We are delighted to see bacta support the Safer Gambling Training programme. Sector-wide commitment to raising standards through training and enhanced learning is our best guard in the prevention of gambling harms.”
