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In 2020, the gambling industry returned profits of £14 billion pounds. Imagine how many people with gambling addiction that kind of money could help (Gov.UK)
SOS are becoming increasingly concerned about gambling addiction, along with the serious, and sometimes deadly effects on the mental health of those who are addicted and the ripple impacts on their loved ones, friends and colleagues
Many people gamble occasionally without issue, some never gamble at all, but there are too many cases of addiction, catastrophic financial loss and, in some tragic cases, suicide. For example, one player was allowed to lose £70,000 over a 10-hour period, while another was allowed to place a £100,000 bet immediately, even though he had a £70,000 credit limit (Gov.UK).
The Gambling white paper does not go far enough. The betting industry itself will not self-regulate itself, and more needs to be done.
SOS will be working towards the following reforms, with #TIO (Think it over) something we’d love to see implemented at the earliest opportunity.
This will run alongside our push to have mental health warnings displayed on line, in stores, during broadcasts – in fact anywhere you can gamble, however you gamble, to put protective warnings in place to encourage you to #TIO think it over.
Two quantitative studies (of moderate and high quality) reported that deaths from suicide were significantly higher among adults with gambling disorder or problems compared to the general adult population. One of these found that some participants, particularly women, had already experienced suicidal events before starting to gamble.
This suggests that gambling may trigger suicidal events in some people already prone to suicidal ideation. The link between gambling and suicide and self-harm was supported by qualitative studies (Gov.uk)
According to 2020 YouGov data on gambling treatment and support (PDF, 1.4MB), around 7% of the population of Great Britain (adults and children) were found to be negatively affected by someone else’s gambling.
Affected others are more likely to be women. The most severe impacts of problem gambling were felt most by immediate family members. Almost half (48%) of people who were affected by a spouse or partner’s gambling reported a severe negative impact. This was followed by people affected by the gambling of a parent (41%) and the gambling of a child (38%)
(Gov.UK)
The SOS #TIO gambling reform control
to control your gambling spend and betting frequency
Gambling addiction destroys lives. The time for reform is now. Add your voice to this grassroots effort fighting for change by signing our petition on the government’s website.
*Spread THE WORD FAR AND WIDE! You probably know more people than you realise – now’s the time to reach out and ask them to help us fight for reform. *Use the hashtag #TIO when sharing about our cause on social media. Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues – anyone who will listen. Print out flyers. Send emails. We need to build an army of supporters.
10,000 signatures
100,000 signatures
On February 28th, our open letter will be sent to Rishi Sunak, PM and the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer. Others include CEOs of Betting Companies plus others
This is your chance to help us protect vulnerable people and families from the devastating impacts of gambling addiction. PLEASE , SHARE, SPREAD THE WORD. The more momentum we gain, the more pressure we put on lawmakers. Together, we can create real, positive change and hopefully save lives!
If you want a campaign pack, please write to contact@sossilenceofsuicide.org and we’ll get one out to you as soon as we can!
LOOK OUT FOR OUR PETITION LINK – AS SOON AS YOU SEE IT, GRAB IT, SIGN IT, SHARE IT
