The charity says the rollout targets displaced Syrian communities across Europe as it works toward a partnership with a European regulatory agency.
Gambling harm prevention charity BetBlocker said today it has expanded its service to include support for Syrian Arabic speakers, aiming to improve access for displaced Syrian communities living across Europe.
The organisation said years of conflict have led to large Syrian diaspora communities across neighbouring countries and many European nations. BetBlocker added that immigrant communities can face higher risk of gambling harm, with religious, social, cultural and linguistic barriers reducing engagement with support services.
BetBlocker said the Syrian Arabic rollout was prioritised as part of work towards a partnership with a European regulatory agency, positioning it to support diaspora Syrian communities across Europe.
Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, said: “I’m always really happy when BetBlocker can line-up priorities for where our work for mature markets also facilitates us extending protections to populations that are under served. Our project to deliver Ukrainian as apart of the Improving Outcomes for Minority Communities fund via GambleAware in the UK was a great example of a project that met the needs of the UK funding system, while concurrently extending the support we could offer to an entirely new project.
This project offers similar opportunities. Where extending our support to Syrian Arabic both allows us to submit a more competitive tender to an EU regulator, whilst simultaneously expanding our support to a country/population that currently has very limited options for people experiencing gambling harm.
BetBlocker’s uptake in Syria is climbing rapidly at the moment, and this new launch should ensure that far more people who need support can access it.”
