News

Tuesday 28 February 2006

Problem gambling advice for youngsters

The International Gaming Research Unit (IGRU) at Nottingham Trent University is to play a key role in ensuring youngsters are educated about the perils of problem gambling. The unit will support education provider TACADE after it was awarded approximately £240,000 from the charity, The Responsibility in Gambling Trust (RIGT).

IGRU and TACADE will use the money to write new materials and resources for use in school and youth work settings. The aim is to train teachers and youth workers to help raise awareness of problem gambling and enable youngsters to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to resist it.

Professor Mark Griffiths, Director of the University's International Gaming Research Unit, said: “We're very pleased that our research for this project will feed into education about adolescent gambling nationally. We have formed a good working relationship with the Responsibility in Gambling Trust and our project partner, TACADE. I hope this will be the start of a long and productive relationship for all the organisations concerned.”

Speaking for the partners, the Chief Executive of TACADE, Martin Buczkiewicz, said: “TACADE and the IGRU recognise that materials are needed to prevent problem gambling and that secondary schools and the youth service are ideally placed to enable this process to be effective. We are delighted to be given the opportunity to work with RIGT to develop these much needed resources and disseminate them through seminars, training sessions and professional networks across the UK.”

The RIGT Chairman, Sir David Durie, added: “The Trust sees the education of young people about problem gambling as one of the key parts of its work. Until now this has been an area the trust has focused on far less, as it developed increasing treatment availability for problem gamblers. We hope that this partnership will reduce the number of problem gamblers in the future.”

ENDS

Notes for editors: The International Gaming Research Unit at the School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, carries out research into gaming, risk taking and interactive technologies. It has published widely in these areas and its aims are to examine attitudes and behaviour in relation to gambling, video game playing, the internet, and other interactive technologies.

The Responsibility in Gambling Trust is an independent charitable body, funded by the UK gambling industry. It commissions treatment, education and research into problem gambling. The aim of the trust is to make it less likely that people will become problem gamblers and more likely that those who do will be able to seek and secure effective help.

The contract starts immediately, but resources will be available for schools at the start of the 2006-7 financial year, when a programme of teacher and youth work training will be available.

TACADE is a leading not-for-profit charitable organisation with more than 40 years’ experience of working both at a national and international level. The charity is renowned for a quality service delivery within health education.

For more information please contact:

Media enquiries please contact Robin Burgess or Malcolm Bruce from RIGT on +44 (0)207 022 1865.

Or Dave Rogers, Press Officer, Nottingham Trent University, on +44 (0)115 848 2650 or dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk.