YGAM and Betknowmore UK’s safer gambling training programmes will now be incorporated into Bacta’s bactaPortal responsible gaming platform. 

Bacta, the UK’s trade association for the amusements and arcade sector, confirmed yesterday that its bactaPortal – first launched in September 2021 – was being updated as ‘Version Two’, to include access to training materials. 

The training will combine ‘specialist knowledge, insight and research’ with the objective of raising player protection standards, with a basis in lived experience and relevance to the latest LCCp requirements. 

Included are six programmes covering areas such as understanding customer vulnerability, managing welfare, how to interact with customers and signposting to support services.

“We’re delighted with this commitment from bacta,” said Ian Shanahan, Director of Business Development and Fundraising at YGAM.

“It is encouraging to see an influential trade association support our work and I hope more sectors within the gambling industry continue to invest in our City & Guilds Assured Safer Gambling Training. All profits generated from our training are directed back into our charities to further support our social purpose.”

Bacta’s Safer Gambling Team plan on showcasing the new programmes and updated portal at the EAG conference in London, and demonstrate how they can access training via the portal. 

As well as including training modules, the bactaPortal allows venues to hold paperless records of customer interactions and self-exclusions as well as other valuable information, and is accessible to all gambling groups although Bacta’s member arcades are offered a reduced subscription. 

John White, Chief Executive at bacta, said: “YGAM and Betknowmore UK are renowned for their safer gambling training and we are proud that they have chosen to make it available via the bactaPortal.

“This initiative is the first of many that will make the bactaPortal indispensable to arcade businesses looking to remove paper from their operations. Not only will we populate the bactaPortal with additional training, we will be providing a suite of tools from AV testing logs to crime alerts that will put the bactaPortal at the top of the must haves for the sector.”

For YGAM and Betknowmore UK, the development represents an expansion of the exposure of the duo’s Mindful Resilience initiative – operated in cooperation with Bournemouth University – accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) earlier this year. 

“We are delighted to see bacta support the Safer Gambling Training programme,” remarked Frankie Graham, Chief Executive at Betknowmore UK.

“Sector wide commitment to raising standards through training and enhanced learning is our best guard in the prevention of gambling harms.”