A group of young people took it upon themselves to examine just how different their community is from a more affluent one, when it comes to gambling and drinking premises.

The young people from Govan Youth Information Project identified that gambling and alcohol addiction are two of the major issues people face in Govan, and decided to do something about it. They applied to Fast Forward’s Gambling Education Youth Fund to carry out their very own research.

The first step of their project involved gathering information and familiarising themselves with the topic, with help of their youth workers. They then decided to explore their local area as well as a more affluent area of Glasgow, recording how many gambling establishments were close to places selling alcohol, and also how many bookmakers there were in each of the two areas.

Their findings concluded that their area of Govan had exponentially more gambling and drinking premises, and in their subsequent research report, they summarised the possible reasons behind their findings.

In the final stage of this project, the young people presented their research to their peers alongside an awareness raising workshop about the risks of gambling and drinking.

After completing the project, the young people shared just how proud they were of what they learned and accomplished:

“It opened our eyes to see how areas were so different, and how these big companies and that do target the vulnerable people. They don’t have much money, and then you’ve got an off-sales or a betting place every few shops down, so it’s a bit hard not to go and bet when it’s constantly in your face. We delivered a presentation to one of the youth clubs as well, and implicated into that about being money-wise as well and controlling your money, and budgeting.”

Watch a video summarising their project here.