BetBlocker partners with Yellow Scarf to deliver to valuable support to Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities in the UK

BetBlocker, a charity providing free, anonymous to use, blocking software has partnered with Yellow Scarf, a charity working to deliver support and treatment for Eastern European communities in the Midlands of the UK, to deliver translated versions of the BetBlocker service to support Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities.

Supported by funding from GambleAware, this project has resulted in the roll out of key native language support for under-supported minority communities. Removing barriers to accessing support services is one of the cornerstones of the minimisation of harm.

Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, had this to say about the launch of the BetBlocker in these new languages: “A significant priority for BetBlocker is expanding the languages that we can support. As a tech solution to a complex problem, ensuring that users have as smooth and easy a set-up process as possible is paramount to our success in minimising gambling harms. If a user can’t get our app set-up, we’ve failed.

For this reason it’s critical that we facilitate users accessing our app in a language that they’re confident using. Yellow Scarf’s critical work has highlighted the need that exists to provide BetBlocker in languages that the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities in the UK can easily access.

The opportunity that GambleAware has provided us to cooperates with an important treatment provider in the UK to expand the service we offer and ensure that our support can be accessed by these under-served communities is one that we were thrilled to take on.”

Tomasz Jarecki, Head of Development at Yellow Scarf, added: “It is a great honour for us to support BetBlocker in making their project more accessible and reaching wider communities – translation into a national language ensures that the more vulnerable people will be able to receive support that would otherwise miss them. More than 25% of Eastern Europeans living in the UK still struggle, despite their best efforts, to fluently speak English in unusual circumstances – and it raises our spirits to find partners such as Betblocker, willing to put in an extra effort to support instead of judge.”