Whoever had the idea of adding 10 minutes added time to premier league football matches clearly hasn’t experienced the rollercoaster of emotions that is having your weekend football accumulator won or lost in the dying seconds!

Let me introduce myself, I’m the Positive Player. Gambling has always been a passion of mine and a great source of entertainment. I like the thrill of risk that it provides but I also like to be in control of the level of risk that I take. I don’t win all the time and sometimes I might over indulge when caught in the action but I am always mindful of my activity and use safer gambling tools to help ensure my gambling does not become a source of harm to me, or to those around me. Over the coming months I want to share with you my gambling experiences (the ups and the downs!) as well as my tips for Positive Play. This column won’t make you rich I am afraid, it is for those who want to play but want to play safely and on their terms. I know that is not possible for everyone and if you are concerned about your own or someone else’s gambling the best advice I can give is to speak to a professional. The national gambling helpline is available 24/7 call free on 0808 802 0133.

Understood? Great, now back to last weekends football and what makes a perfect accumulator bet? An accumulator bet is a series of bets on separate events that must all win for the bet to come in. The original stake goes on the first selection if that wins the winnings go on the second selection and so on. Accumulators are popular in football because the odds of a team winning are quite short therefore it is attractive to pick several teams to win to increase the odds.

The first thing to bear in mind is that the more teams you pick the harder it is to win. You might fancy 14 home bankers this week but trust me one will let you down! I picked 5 teams because I am in a picking competition with friends and these are the teams the group came up with so I thought it would be fun. Here’s the next tip! If you don’t fancy a bet or a selection you don’t have to go through with it. I didn’t like one of the selections so I placed a separate bet with the remaining 4 teams as insurance. There are no correct amount of selections, adding teams to make the numbers up is rarely a winning strategy. Stick to the amount of selections you feel confident with. Accumulators are a high risk bet its all or nothing, 1 selection lets you down and its all over as I nearly experienced with 2 of my selections last week.

With one team 2-0 down all looked lost until a 2^nd half comeback and late winner kept the bet alive. All was resting on the last selection and at 2-0 up with just 5 minutes to go disaster! A penalty is awarded and all of a sudden its 2-1. The games moves into injury time and the comeback is complete 2-2, the game is heading for an likely draw until redemption and my team score a late winner, bet landed!

Well actually the bet was landed sometime earlier, so what saved me from 10 minutes of squeaky bum time in this game? I had insurance and here is another tip. Creating different permutations where 1,2,3 or even 4 of my teams could lose but I still get a return is expensive, in fact for 5 selections there are 31 combinations of bets I could have and most of them would not return enough to make the bet worthwhile, reducing the risk in most forms of betting means less reward so it is always important to find the level of risk and reward you are happy with. I had insurance through special offers or features that many operators offer, in this case if my team went 2 goals ahead then the leg is settled a winner regardless of the final result. Some offers may provide a free bet if one of your teams let you down and another gives you an opportunity to freeze the score of one of your selections (handy if you think they might crack under pressure) in all of theses instances terms and conditions apply, there will be a minimum amount of selections you must have in your accumulator there may also be stake limits and potentially reduced odds to cover the offer. In any of these cases if promotional offers suit your style of play then great! Shop around and find the best one for you. If it means that to qualify for a promotion you have to change the way you bet or stake then have a think, is this really for you and will it actually enhance my enjoyment of gambling.

After all that excitement I’m going to relax with an early bath, I’ll see you next month, in the meantime play positively.  

Better Change are proud to release their training and education brochure for 2026 detailing the different programmes we have available to empower your teams, deliver long term sustainable growth and prevent gambling harm through Positive Play. Our Apprenticeship level 4 in regulatory compliance is in full swing with the first cohort now live and applications open for future cohorts. We have expanded our suite of e-learning beyond safer gambling covering area of compliance and marketing. Positive Play workshops are available for in person or remote skills based learning and we have our calendar of events planned for 2026 to promote Positive Play and the advancements of our industry. You can read more and download a copy of our brochure here.

It didn’t take long for 2026 event season to get into full swing starting with The EAG (Entertainment, Attractions and Gaming) Expo in London on the 13^th Jan closely followed the week after by the behemoth that is the ICE trade show in Barcelona. Better Change were exhibiting at both events showcasing our training and education products as well as talking about new and emerging global markets and exploring the latest developments in tech.

The ExCel London was the first destination of the year for the land based gambling industries annual showcase of the latest gaming equipment and business solutions. Among the throng of lights and sounds there is also the opportunity to discuss the progress of our industry, and Better Change were kindly invited by EAG and land based industry trade body Bacta, to exhibit and engage with delegates how they can support land based gambling in terms of compliance and promoting Positive Play.

The land based amusements sector is a significant part of our industry with millions of people each year enjoying high street arcades, bingo and family entertainment centres and like many businesses in hospitality and entertainment the past few years have been extremely challenging due to rising costs. Couple this with the recent pressure on the gambling industry, from the introduction of statutory levies, the threat of rising taxes and increased regulation and you have a potential perfect storm which puts jobs and long standing businesses at risk. Fortunately there had been some respite to the doom and gloom at the end of last year with the announcement that machine game duty would not be increased as part of the autumn budget. The challenge had also been laid out by government that to benefit from the relaxing of regulations, including machine allocations, stakes and prizes they had to demonstrate their commitment to player protection. This is a challenge that the sector has relished and as well as promoting new products there was a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance and safer gambling initiatives including Better Changes offer of free safer gambling e-learning to the sector in partnership with US training provider RG24seven and trade body Bacta. Bacta members can enquire about free training here.

Other highlights from the show include the second staging of the both the London casino show and the Social Immersive Entertainment Expo showing that the sector is innovative, resilient and looking to the future and the changing trends of its consumers.

ICE’s move from London to Barcelona in 2025 was met with both scepticism and excitement but it is hard to deny the biggest show in gaming has got a whole lot…Bigger! ICE has always been a huge melting pot bringing together the world of gaming together under one roof and the 2026 renewal has been the biggest yet, quite apt then that the theme for this years show was growing.

As we have done for the past couple of years Better Change once again teamed up with RG24seven and BMM innovation group to exhibit at this years show. The theme on our stand was that we were “questioning our education” and in an ever evolving world we want to make sure that our training and education materials are the best they can be. We invited people from the show to contribute to our huge chalkboard, brainstorming ideas and finding out what made training really rock for them as well as what areas need to be covered. This will be invaluable over the coming months as we continue to refine our offer with our partners and friends stateside. To encourage people to contribute we also held a prize draw giving away a years supply of airport lounge access and a remarkable notepad. Congratulations to Niamh from Mindway and George from Stakemates, enjoy your prizes!

One’s approach to ICE needs to be more strategic these days, you cannot expect to cover the whole event wandering from hall to hall! Fortunately the layout and the ease of access to the skywalk means you can get to where you need to be in minutes although do give yourself plenty of time to get from meeting to meeting, even on day 3 I was being overtaken by people running to get to their next appointment (you’ve gotta love the hustle)! Better Changes ICE took us to various parts of the exhibition floor, Engagement Director Rob spoke at the sustainable gambling zone about the benefits of a positive play approach as opposed to acting solely on markers of harm as well as meeting with representatives from across the industry to discuss the advancement of AI and its application in our industry at a breakfast hosted by Aibly, whilst Vicki and Anna attended a Global Gaming Women breakfast and also a seminar on emerging markets where we are supporting with the implementation of regulated markets as well as consulting with operators in various regions.

It was great to meet so many people for the first time as well as some familiar faces and we look forward to catching up on those conversations in the future. If you missed us either at EAG or at ICE don’t worry, we will be out and about again soon but in the meantime why not get in touch and see how we can support your organisations growth.

As part of their Positive Play Summer Event, Better Change officially launched the gambling industry’s first purpose-built apprenticeship programme, a level 4 qualification in regulatory compliance.

There was a packed house in “The Gods” a quirky space on the roof of The Hippodrome, the iconic casino in London’s Leicester square, for Better Change’s Positive Play event which this year focussed on learning and education.

You can read the full article by downloading the PDF or register your interest by following this link, Apprenticeship Registration Form

An historic night for Positive Play® as Better Change pick up two awards at the prestigious EGR B2B ceremony in London.

“It’s taken a while but it feels like we have finally arrived” said Better Change Director of Strategic Partnerships, David Richardson who represented the Gibraltar based consultancy at EGR’s annual awards ceremony held at the Roundhouse, Camden.

Nominated in two categories Better Change were in esteemed company vying for the title of Safer Gambling Software Provider and amongst emerging organisations who will undoubtedly go on to make a positive impact to our industry in the Services Rising Stars category.

It was the Rising Stars award which was the first of Better Change’s successes on the night which founder and CEO, Victoria Reed felt represented a watershed moment for the organisation. “For the last four years all of us at Better Change have worked tirelessly and often in the face of strongly opposing views to demonstrate to the industry and its various stakeholders that consumer welfare should not be business limiting, nor should it be confined to a single department focussed on player protection. Positive Play® is so much more than safer gambling in that it involves the whole of the industry as well as the entire customer base to empower a positive impact on the communities in which we operate. For too long I have felt that the focus, which was often driven by fear of breaching regulation or cost, has been overly narrow concentrating on the small minority of consumers experiencing harm. Our intention was to show organisations that by being pro-active, demonstrating the positive impact of our industry and working to prevent harm, we can create a sustainable industry that is fun, safe and where people can build great careers. I can’t put into words how proud I am of our team and how grateful we are to those early adopters of Positive Play® who put their faith in us from the start. We are extremely proud to have won this award which recognises our transition from a start-up organisation with a few good ideas to a growing business with a clear purpose making a genuine impact.”

The night wasn’t over for Better Change with David returning to the stage to collect the award for Safer Gambling Software Provider. In a hotly contested category featuring a number of well-established providers David was delighted to collect the award. “Just to be nominated along with some of the providers in this category is an achievement so to win the award is amazing, it’s taken a while but it feels like we have finally arrived!” Speaking about the reason for their nomination Richardson added, “We have been working with the team from RG24seven, a Las Vegas based training provider for a couple of years now in bringing their gambling industry training and eLearning platform to the UK. Our training consists of a series of courses covering a comprehensive range of industry topics all presented by experts in the industry. We use the tagline “by the industry, for the industry” because users can be assured that all of the subject matter covered in our training has been created by the people with the knowledge and experience in that field. We often hear a lot about how the industry should collaborate especially around safer gambling so to be a part of a collaboration that crosses so many different areas of our industry is something we are very proud of and we would like to dedicate this award to all of our industry collaborators as well as the team at RG24seven without whom this would not have been possible.”

The awards ceremony capped a successful two days for Better Change who also attended their first iGB live event at London’s ExCel exhibition centre. To find out more about Positive Play® or enquire about training or other services offered by Better Change please get in touch at info@Better-Change.org or reach out directly to one of our team.

With Adult Gaming Centres (AGC’s) currently under the spotlight, Better Change took an in-depth look into AGC’s to find out what has driven their rise in popularity.

The government has taken the decision to suspend current plans to relax the 80/20 split for higher stakes B3 machines that allows an operator to populate 20% of their machine stock with the popular £500 jackpot/£2 max stake terminals. This is despite the recent gambling act white paper eluding to a “levelling up” of offline venues so that they are competitive with online products, citing a concern that not enough is being done in these venues to protect vulnerable people.

We looked at recent surveys and statistics as well as speaking with AGC staff and customers to find out if this concern is justified or if it is yet another example of preventing gambling as a lazy approach to preventing harm.