The GambleAware organization in the United Kingdom has once again contracted the Scottish charity Fast Forward to keep running the Scottish Gambling Education Center for another three years, until October 2024.

Since the center’s founding in 2018, Fast Forward has been in charge of its operation, collaborating with young people and adults to increase awareness of the risks of gambling. The center makes sure its staff are comfortable in providing harm reduction guidance and offering direction and assistance to those who require it.

Up to this point, the center has trained staff from over 550 different organizations across all 32 local governments in Scotland, including schools, colleges, universities, youth work, and family service agencies.

With funding from GambleAware, the center will continue to work to make sure that children, young people, and families in Scotland have access to gambling education, prevention opportunities, and resources.

GambleAware has declared that it will also make some improvements to the project’s framework so that partners, practitioners, and policymakers can stay involved with the issue.

This will involve providing more customized gambling prevention and instruction training for professionals and practitioners. It will also entail expanding existing training and resources and enhancing the accessibility of gambling harm awareness and support tools.

The center will continue to collaborate with the Scottish Gambling Education Network (SGEN) to broaden its activities, including hosting a new national gathering in 2022.

“Fast Forward has demonstrated its worth as a key partner in preventing gambling harm among young people in Scotland,” stated Dr. Jane Rigby, Head of Prevention at GambleAware. “Given the success of the work already undertaken, continuity is essential.

“The Scottish Education Center has worked with young people, parents, communities, and youth workers in impactful and creative ways for many years, delivering unique projects.

“We are pleased to further support their efforts in prevention and education and anticipate the publication of the independent assessment of the project in 2022.”

Ellie Cherry-Burns, Chief Executive of Fast Forward, added: “Fast Forward’s work assists young people in making informed choices about risk-taking, leading to positive lifelong health outcomes.

“Gambling has become commonplace in our communities, with many young people being affected by their own gambling or the gambling of their parents, guardians, or family members.

The ongoing financial support from GambleAware ensures that the Scottish Gambling Education Hub will continue collaborating with youth, guardians, and educators to educate them about the risks associated with gambling and guarantee that assistance is readily accessible when required.

This announcement follows GambleAware’s September declaration of plans to establish new gambling education facilities in England and Wales. This endeavor will allocate £2.5 million (€2.9 million/$3.4 million). These centers will be modeled after the existing Scottish Gambling Education Hub.

GambleAware also disclosed last week that they provided £250,000 to a research group to aid them in understanding the experiences of women who engage in gambling and the issues that gambling creates.

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