Bishop of St Albans asks Government about effectiveness of Bet Regret campaign

On 16th July 2019 the Bishop of St Albans, Rt Revd Alan Smith, received a written answer from the Government, about the Bet Regret campaign:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: HL16962 To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 2 July (HL Deb, col 1346), on what evidence they based their claim that the Bet Regret campaign is showing promising results.

Lord Ashton of Hyde: We published the Review of Gaming Machines and Social Responsibility Measures in May last year. A safer gambling advertising campaign was one of a range of measures to strengthen protections around gambling advertising and more widely, to ensure that the sector is socially responsible and doing all it can to protect consumers.

The campaign was launched in February and the initial message, ‘Bet Regret’, is aimed at reducing risky or impulsive betting on sports, particularly by young men. Campaign activity has been closely monitored and a tracking study conducted at the end of the first burst of TV advertising suggests that the campaign is well-targeted and is effectively reaching the intended audience. The attached summary is published on GambleAware’s website here.