The
Safe Bet Alliancesets out national guidelines to improve security and safety for staff and customers in high street betting shops. Sarah Simpson, the Chair of the Safe Bet Alliance, Paul Darling, the new chair of the
Association of British Bookmakers, Gareth Thomas MP and John Park from Community Union, introduced this updated report.
Simpson kicked off the reception by underscoring the importance of safety, the core reason that the Safe Bet Alliance was established. Simpson explained how working with processes that were already in place at bookmakers and making sure that practical things can be done at a level that is appropriate for your organisation, had resulted in a strong set of guidelines that could be used in different scenarios as a pro forma. She praised the successful joint effort that had helped the Safe Bet Alliance to get to this stage.
Darling stated that the
Safe Bet Allianceis “a model, because it shows how commercial competitors can work together to solve an industry wide problem, to address the cause of it and to put in place the measures needed to tackle it.” He also encouraged the idea of it as a model within their industry, as well as others.
Darling highlighted some of the achievements since the Safe Bet Alliance began, all resulting in vital relationships between communities, local authorities and police, to make the area better for everyone:
• As part of the ‘Robbery – Odds on you’ll get caught’ campaign, in Nottinghamshire, the ABB held an event with the Nottingham police to highlight the Safe Bet Alliance. This event saw a constable attend a shop in the centre and attracted considerable media coverage, even gaining a lengthy feature on Radio Nottinghamshire Breakfast Show, consequentially raising public awareness.
• The ABB worked with police in Scotland to give all betting shops posters and leaflets, this also generated coverage, and resulted in strong links between shops and local police teams.
• In a Coral branch in Manchester, the ABB organised leaflets and posters. This has resulted in good press and public relations in the area and has led to posters being rolled out to all shops in the region.
Darling explained that “betting shops have lowest levels of crime of all retail sectors on the high street”, with betting shops having less crime than clothes shops, pubs and food shops. He explained that this was “a good reality check on the sort of impact the initiatives that we are talking about have”. He also praised the efforts of the betting shop staff in this initiative to improve safety, and described how this initiative brings with it opportunities for them too.
In light of these achievements, the speakers discussed what would be coming next for the Safe Bet Alliance. Simpson suggested that the next step is to get it out to the whole country, to the licensing officers and all bookmakers. Darling also stressed the importance of exposure, and said that the ABB planned to send the new guidelines to all police officers, to all police and crime commissioners, all licencing authorities and councils. This would ensure that everyone knows what the ABB are doing to make sure betting shops are safe for customers and staff. Darling concluded “all of that is very positive indeed”.
John Park from Community Union welcomed the partnership with this opportunity, recognising a responsibility to take the key messages in the Safe Bet Alliance across the industry, but also agreed that certainly, “this could be a model for other sectors”. He explained how trade unions have a responsibility to make work places safer, and Community Union were doing this by providing practical and academic help in the document. This work would ensure that betting shops are safer in the future and good quality employment opportunities are available for long careers.
Park stated that in “building together a strategy such as this, the partnership that surrounded it is really important in sending a message to government and decision makers about the industry being able to take responsibility for the things that are happening.” He highlighted the importance of working in partnership with people who are employed in the industry in making sure that betting shops are safer in the future.
Read the Safe Bet Alliance guidelines
here.