John Bollom, Bacta President said:

“Bacta supports an evidence-based approach to public policy making.

“But the first tranche of results from the Gambling Survey of Great Britain (GSGB) need to be treated with caution. 

“The new findings cannot be compared with previous surveys. Nor can they be used to establish changes in behaviour. 

“This is because the methodology used to compile the GSGB is significantly changed from previous surveys of this kind. 

“There has been a move away from the using the NHS Survey for England to calculate gambling prevalence to utilising an online self-completion survey with a narrower sample of people questioned. 

“The Gambling Commission itself has made clear GSGB should not be used to make direct comparisons with results from prior surveys, as a measure of addiction, or to gross up problem gambling prevalence to the whole population.

“BACTA members are firmly committed to promoting responsible gambling and continuously strive to ensure the safety and well-being of our customers.

“Our venues are among the safest places to gamble with customers supervised by experienced staff who are well trained to spot signs of problems and provide support.

“The gaming machines in these venues are low stake and highly regulated by the Gambling Commission with strict age checks are enforced. 

“The vast majority of our customers have an enjoyable time but a small minority of players can have problems and we are committed to ensuring help is offered to players if needed. We also engage with people with lived experiences to inform and shape our actions to prevent problem gambling happening in the first place.

“Bacta runs a self-exclusion scheme which permits customers to voluntarily exclude themselves from venues in their area or across the UK, should they feel that is necessary”