Evaluation of the Credit Card Ban: Participant information sheet for people affected by the gambling of others

Background

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has been commissioned by the Gambling Commission (GC) to evaluate the ban on the use of credit cards to purchase gambling products, both online and offline (with the exception of non-remote lotteries). The ban was implemented in April 2020 and since then the GC has monitored the application of the ban through requests for reports from financial institutions and gambling operators.

What is the evaluation about?

The purpose of the evaluation is to understand how the ban has been implemented and what impact it has had on gamblers and on other people affected by their gambling. This will contribute to understanding what outcomes have been achieved and what has worked well and less well. To do so, part of our evaluation is to conduct interviews with gambling operators, financial operators, those providing support and help to gamblers, those affected by others’ gambling, such as yourself, and gamblers.

What is my involvement?

You are receiving this information sheet because you expressed interest in taking part in a confidential interview to talk about the impact that the ban has had on you.

The interview will take place over the phone or using Microsoft Teams and it will last around 60 minutes. The research team can work with you to arrange an interview at a time and date convenient for you. With your permission, the interview will be audio recorded using a secure and encrypted software named Amolto, so that there is a detailed and accurate record of what was discussed. This recording will be deleted at the end of the evaluation. The interview topics will include:

• Your experience of other people’s gambling before and after the credit card ban;
• How and why their behaviours and habits have changed after the ban was introduced;
• How these changes have affected you;
• How and why the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the other person’s gambling habits and the interactions of the pandemic with the credit card ban;
• Recommendations and suggestions for improvement.

Is the discussion confidential?

Yes, what you discuss with our researchers is completely confidential. Neither the GC nor other third parties outside of the research team will be made aware of your participation. 

NatCen will carefully manage your personal data. The information you provide will be held securely and in strict confidence in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The information you provide will be brought together with other data and used to write a report for the GC. We will not identify you in the reports or presentations of the evaluation findings. Your personal details and the interview data collected will be deleted as soon as possible after the completion of the project. 

Do I have to take part?

Your participation is entirely voluntary, and if you agree to participate you are free to change your mind at any point before, during, or after the interview. During the interview you do not have to answer any questions that you would prefer not to. If you would like to withdraw before or after the interview (within 2 months of your interview), please get in touch with the research team using the contact details below. If you would like to withdraw during the interview, please just let the researcher interviewing you know.

How can I take part?

Please contact us at ccban-project@natcen.ac.uk. Once we receive your email, one of our researchers will be in touch to invite you to interview. When we contact you, we will ask you a short set of questions before inviting you to an interview. As well as answering any questions you have, this is to understand your experience of the ban a little better – occasionally we have to choose between potential participants to ensure that the evaluation covers a range of experiences.

If you require any additional support to participate in the interview, please let the researcher know when booking the interview. For example, some participants may want a family member or friend to sit in on the interview for support, or if English is not your first language, to help with interpretation.

If you decide to participate in an interview, we will also send you an aftercare leaflet which provides some additional information about services you can access. This is to ensure that you know where to find support following the interview if, for instance, anything discussed upsets you. However, you will not have to answer any questions you do not want to, and you can also stop or pause the interview at any time, and let our researcher know if you are having any difficulties at all.

More information on the evaluation

If you would like to know more about how the information you provide will be processed, please see the privacy notice.

For more information please also contact the project team at:

Telephone: 0207 549 7135

Email: ccban-project@natcen.ac.uk

 

Find out more about how your information will be processed in this privacy notice.

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