All football fans are probably aware of GamStop or might have seen its logo printed somewhere in relation to football. The GamStop scheme launched by the UKGC helps punters to restrict addictive gambling. It offers three time periods of six months, a year, or five years for punters to choose from. This scheme has become powerful since every online casino under the UKGC abides by it.
GamStop is a nonprofit organization that helps compulsive gamblers by reducing gambling-related problems. Since GamStop was established in 2018, it has extended an alliance with various football teams to prevent gambling harm with licensed operators. GamStop’s annual review of 2021 showed that there were around 257,000 new registrations by the end of the year and more than 235,000 among them are currently excluded from online gambling. A spike of 25% in terms of registrations was observed from January to June 2021 and had a 32% increase during the second half.
Spreading GamStop Awareness Among Football Fans
GamStop was launched by the National Online Self Exclusion Scheme or NOSES which is a non-business entity. Launched in 2018 to minimize gambling harm within the UK, gamblers who wish to reduce a gambling problem can register for the program which requires providing authentic information and confirmation via email. Once the registration is approved, gamblers cannot access gambling websites registered under the UKGC during their chosen period.
Many punters ignore the self-exclusion option irrespective of multiple sensitisation projects and join gambling sites like FreshBet online casino which aren’t under GamStop. Arsenal FC’s cooperation with GamStop shall turn out to be a solution for awareness among gamblers regarding the scheme. 70% of registrants of GamStop in 2021 were men whereas the number of women signing up has increased to 30%. 43% of the registrants were aged between 25 and 34 and 50% of registrations in 2021 had chosen the exclusion period of 5 years which is the maximum. 24% chose a year of exclusion whereas 26% chose 6 months of the exclusion.
Following The Footsteps Of Other Football Clubs
GamStop has partnered with several entities like English football teams. Since gambling and football are linked inseparably, such a situation has motivated such agreements. Middlesbrough FC and Luton Town FC are among the teams that have also collaborated with GamStop to promote the initiative of safer yet responsible gambling. Arsenal FC can also join the list of football clubs supporting responsible gambling for a better gambling future as well as to improve player performance with proper training.
Arsenal FC is a successful football club and has won 13 top-flight titles. It also holds the record for most FA Cup wins which is 14 as of December 2020. Thus, Arsenal must join GamStop to make people aware of its objectives and duties. This future collaboration can turn out to be a splendid opportunity for enhancing the gambling sphere in the UK.
Reputational Gains
Arsenal is based in Islington, London, and is the top English football club that has obtained multiple titles. The club has won 2 League Cups and 13 league titles in the Premier League. The club has established a worldwide reputation as one of the best football teams and its cooperation and participation with GamStop can be a great opportunity for increasing the prestige of the team. This would also act as an effective measure to measure prudent gambling. GamStop was launched to help gamblers and its alliance with Arsenal FC can boost the reputation of GamStop thus increasing the number of registrants. GamStop CEO Fiona Palmer mentioned how registrations had improved over 2021 and promised to work harder to help punters have access to tools necessary for their recovery process.
In a Nutshell
With easy access to online betting, the issues associated with it have also had an evident increase despite the strict norms enforced by the gambling watchdog. Nearly 1.4 million punters in the UK are problem gamblers who also prefer to bet on football anonymously, which is an alarming situation. Helping gambling addicts is crucial and apart from the various organizations developed to support them, GamStop is a compulsory scheme for all gambling operators. Thus, when Arsenal chooses to join this self-exclusion service, the aim to help and assist addicted gamblers can be easily achieved. In such a future partnership, public awareness regarding the issue will be looked after via the Arsenal FC Website, social media, and club match days. Since Arsenal Football Club is the most successful club with a major fanbase worldwide, tackling such a huge problem shall be quite straightforward.
