New Gambling Care Charity Established By Gibraltar Regulator
Published March 13, 2021 by Sol FH
The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA) has taken a major step in lessening gambling harm and at-risk gamblers.
The Gibraltar Gaming Care Foundation (GGCF), funded by the CBGA has been established to combat the challenging side-effects of problem gambling. The Foundation will work with players, operators, gaming industry leaders, and even government regulators to lessen the impact of gambling disorders, within the local market.
The Foundation will operate on its own, independent from the CBGA, in partnership with local councilors Selvan Soobiah and Stephen Reyes. Acting as a corporate counselor and an initial funder of research is the Belvedere Trustees Limited. The new initiative will be at the University of Gibraltar and will be called the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming (CERG).
Ground-Breaking Research
More than £2.5m has already been raised by the Gibraltar regulator, mainly by local gambling companies for its establishment and first years of operations. The main research will look at the impacts of gambling addiction and other problems on families, individuals, and society.
Additional research will focus on how gambling addiction may be linked to other problematic behavior and how gambling operators can work to minimize the negative impact of gambling.
“This is a pivotal step change for all Gibraltar licensed operators and the jurisdiction as a whole,” commented GBGA chairman Nigel Birrell.
“The GBGA, via the GGCF will be supporting the creation of an industry-leading research program aimed at exploring solutions to minimize gambling-related harm and the creation of open-source databases for academic studies.”
Reyes, who will act as chair of the GGCF added: “Gibraltar is known globally as a premier jurisdiction in the online gambling area, so it is great that as an industry the operators have come together and set up and formed this charitable foundation to invest in academic research to inform effective initiatives to encourage responsible gambling and prevent gambling harm.”
