Moving in the Right Direction - The 13th Annual GamCare Conference

The 13th GamCare Annual Conference took place last November (2012) in London, UK. The conference hosted a panel discussion titled 'Moving in the Right Direction' which included presentations and discussions on social media, self-exclusion and social marketing. In this video Simo Dragicevic from Bet Buddy discusses proposals on strengthening the UK's self-exclusion processes to better protect consumers.

The presentation is followed by a panel discussion that was chaired by GamCare Deputy Chairman John Hagan. The panel included Professor Peter Collins, former head of Salford University's Centre for the Study of Gambling, whose talk on designing effective social marketing campaigns is also included. The other conference presentation videos, including Professor Jon Grant's session (Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago), can be viewed on the GamCare website.

It’s hard to know when to stop – especially on Everest!

The Bet Buddy homepage uses my own images from an expedition climbing Lobouche East in Khumbu region in Nepal. The analogy of mountaineering and gambling may not be obvious. Mountaineering gives me an edge, a feeling of excitement, frustration, achievement and is quite addictive once you get into it. It’s the same kind of feeling my brother Rad gets with gambling (he is a horse racing fanatic!). But knowing when to stop, rather than pushing yourself all the way, is important in mountaineering, gambling and many other aspects of life.

In 2007 I remember sitting down and taking a breather at 4am in the morning just below the 2nd Step on Everest’s North East ridge at around 8,600m. I desperately wanted to carry on that extra 250m and stand on top of the world but alas, it wasn’t meant to be for me that day (it would take way too long to explain why!). I was fortunate to have Sherpa Sonham with me to help me take the right decision. Looking back, although I remain frustrated at falling short of the summit that morning, I’m quite relieved I stopped and am here to tell the tale. You can see a short slide show on the expedition with some interesting facts and figures on Everest and mountaineering if you are interested (if you are interested in things like ‘death to summit ratios’ and the costs to climb Everest then you should read it). We are all human and occasionally we all need some advice, a tap on the shoulder, or a helping hand when things get a little too much for us...