Funding bid by anti-gambling app developers

A group of medical students behind a new anti-gambling app hope to land a slice of a £60m funding pot provided by gambling firms to support treatment for people addicted to this pursuit.

Minal Jain, along with her fellow University of Sheffield students, are developing an app – called Bet On Me – which uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to change the thought process of gambling addicts.

CBT works to make addicts more aware of the triggers for their behaviour while empowering them to think rationally about their actions.

The app monitors a user’s thoughts, behaviours and feelings to identify when they are most likely to have a gambling urge, and will suggest activities designed to distract them.

The students are conducting market research with gambling addicts. They will then appoint an app developer with a view to launching the software in December.

Jain, along with Tejus Patel, Akshay Kumar and Adil Nayeem, are also using business advice from the Baldwins KickStart Awards to make their product attractive to external investors.

Jain said: “It’s encouraging to see big gambling firms waking up to the addictive nature of the industry, but the money needs to be spent on activity that is likely to have the best impact.

“We want this app to be the first step of the treatment ladder, followed by face-to-face CBT sessions with psychiatrists and psychologists.

“Our app is built upon research we have done with around 20 genuine gambling addicts – finding out why they remained engaged with the app and what parts they didn’t feel worked.

“The app is similar to a companion who is always there to support with timely alerts to help people at their most vulnerable moments.

“It is set to be ready to go by the end of December, and we are hoping to pitch the product to gambling operators, gambling charities and the NHS.”

The students entered last year’s Baldwins KickStart Awards – where they pitched their business idea to stand a chance of winning £20,000 worth of investment. They finished runners-up, to take home £5,000 worth of business mentoring and accountancy advice.

Business hopefuls aged 18 to 25 can enter this year’s Awards by August 31 2019, which are being held at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, in Birmingham, on November 14 2019.

David Baldwin, Director at Baldwins, said: “The business advice from the Baldwins KickStart Awards has enabled Minal and her team to take their concept to the next stage in terms of preparing research to prove their product works, as well as funding the creation of the app itself.

“People who enter with a business plan will be given meaningful feedback for them to pursue their concept further, so we’d urge as many people as possible to give it a go.”

For more information about the Baldwins KickStart Awards visit www.baldwinsaccountants.co.uk/kickstart

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