Children on the Edge and its staff are committed to the protection of children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling. Children on the Edge has put in place the following procedures to encourage people to gamble responsibly, to take reasonable steps to identify customers who may be experiencing difficulties with gambling behaviour and to signpost them to appropriate guidance and support.

The Be Gamble Aware helpline number and website address is included on printed materials for the raffle. For support, visit www.begambleaware.org or phone 0808 8020 133 (lines open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week)

You can request to be self-excluded from Children on the Edge’s raffle communications and entry into any prize draws if you are struggling to control your gambling.

Self-exclusion means asking to be excluded from gambling promotion for a certain length of time, usually between six and twelve months but can be up to seven years. You can do this by contacting us by one of the following methods:

• Email - fundraising@childrenontheedge.org
• Phone - 01243 538530, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Once we receive your request, we will take all reasonable steps to stop sending you any information about our lotteries, raffles and prize draws as soon as we can.When your self-exclusion has expired, we will not market our lottery to you unless you have made a positive decision to return to the lottery of their own accord.A single player will be limited to a maximum of £50 worth of entries in each raffle draw.

Protecting children and vulnerable people

Underage gambling is an offence. To protect children, we operate procedures to exclude those under 16 from entering our lottery or raffle. When a new player buys a raffle ticket they will be required to declare that they are over the age of 16 and may be required to confirm their date of birth. Anyone under the age of 16 will not be permitted to purchase a ticket to enter the lottery. If, upon winning, any individual is found to be under the age of 16 then all winnings will be forfeited.

Children on the Edge does not specifically or intentionally target people under the age of 16. We are careful to consider the style and content of any promotion to protect children.

We will further support the protection of vulnerable people with an annual financial contribution to Gambling Commission approved organisations dealing with research, prevention & treatment of problem gambling.

Advice for Gambling Responsibly

The majority of people gamble responsibly. It may help you to keep your gambling under control by remembering the following:

• You are buying fun, not investing your money
• Before playing, set strict limits on how much time and money you are going to spend
• Quit while you’re ahead, avoid chasing loses
• Only gamble with money you can afford to lose
• Don’t spend more money on gambling with the hope to win back money that you have lost
• Keep other interests and hobbies – don’t let gambling take over your life
• Don’t gamble in order to escape from stress or boredom
• Gambling in moderation is okay
• Keep track of the time you spend gambling and the amount you spend

For some, however, gambling can become a problem. If you are concerned about the amount you are gambling, and feel it is taking over your life (or you are concerned for a friend or relative), then the following questions may help you and give you some guidance.

• Have others criticised your gambling?
• Have you ever lied to cover up the amount you have gambled or time spent doing it?
• Do arguments, frustrations or disappointments make you want to gamble?
• Do you gamble alone for long periods?
• Do you stay away from work or college to gamble?
• Do you gamble to escape from a boring or unhappy life?
• Are you reluctant to spend ‘gambling money’ on anything else?
• Have you lost interest in your family, friends or pastimes due to gambling?
• After losing, do you feel you must try to win back your losses as soon as possible?
• When gambling and you run out of money, do you feel lost and in despair, and need to gamble again as soon as possible?
• Do you gamble until your last penny is gone?
• Have you lied, stolen or borrowed just to get money to gamble or to pay gambling debts?
• Is your mental health being affected because of your gambling?

If you feel you are answering ‘yes’ repetitively to the above questions, then it is likely a gambling problem exists.

For friendly, helpful advice from trained counsellors, call the National Gambling Helpline - Freephone 0808 8020 133 (lines open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week)

Sometimes just telling someone about your problem can be a relief and it is the first step towards dealing with your problem. You can also visit the Be Gamble Aware websitewww.begambleaware.org for more information and advice.

Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way

Upon request from any player, we will ensure Sterling Lotteries assist us in providing a full history of their raffle draws, including payments and winnings history.

Players have access to clear information on matters such as the rules of the game, the prizes that are available, the chances of winning, and the way in which prizes are allocated.

The rules are fair and advertised in the customer’s Rules of Play.

Any advertising and promotional material will be clear and not misleading, with the price of tickets clearly stated.