Betting and Gaming Council: SGWeek 2024 smashes social media record

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) have announced that Safer Gambling Week 2024 (SGW2024) campaigns have broken records yet again for their online coverage and impact.

#SGWeek2024 campaigns that ran from November 18 to November 24 set new highs on social media, generating a 21% increase on last year’s figures.

Across the full week, there were over 60 million impressions across social media platforms such as X, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. This was up from their seventh edition in 2023 when 50 million social media impressions were generated. 

On top of this, the Safer Gambling Week website saw over half a million visits, while the campaign itself also increased the number of safer gambling messages both online and in person.

The promotions that highlighted safer gambling tools, intervention and treatment services drew high praise from cross-party senior MPs and peers including Gambling Minister Baroness Fiona Twycross and the chief executive of the Gambling Commission Andrew Rhodes. 

Among the well-known football clubs to support SGW2024 were Tottenham, Aston Villa and Southampton, ensuring millions of fans were reached by the Safer Gambling Week message.

BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst said: “These outstanding and record-breaking results prove once more that our industry is serious about promoting the safer gambling tools available to customers and signposting the help and support available to those who need it.

“Whilst we await the details on the number of people using safer gambling tools, past years have shown us that an increase in the number of social media impressions has led to an increase in the use of popular tools - like time-outs and deposit limits - that only exist in the regulated industry.

“As I said at the beginning of the week, our commitment to safer gambling is not just for one week of the year. It is our mission for every week of the year.”