WELCOME from Miles Baron, Editor  July saw the publication of the independent Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) sponsored ipsos MORI research into problem gambling levels in retail Bingo clubs. The Bingo Association and its members were happy to facilitate and co-operate with this study.
As it turns out, levels of problem gambling were found to be relatively low and in line with expectation which is good news, but even more significant is that the Industry now has a fixed reference point and is no longer vulnerable to assumptions made from work undertaken in other sectors: in other words, we are transparent and we trust the data as it comes directly from the sector.
It is now time for The Bingo Association (BA) to digest the ipsosMORI research and decide what actions can be taken to mitigate harm. It is not enough to say that levels of harm are relatively low compared to other sectors; there are still up to 14,000 people a week who need us to help them, and we know that the level of customers at 'moderate' risk is higher than first thought.
Media coverage was initially largely negative with the BBC using words like "addiction" and headline facts out of context. As press releases kicked in and with the support, I am pleased to say of several academics, a more balanced and even a positive picture started to emerge. The research made very positive comments about the social good Bingo brings, providing statistics such as 92% of Bingo players attend a club with friends or family.
Meanwhile the industry national self-exclusion scheme continues to 'bed' in. We believe that the system is working well and that by the end of the year over a hundred customers will have been prevented from breaching their self-exclusion through the national scheme. The BA has committed to an independent review of the self-exclusion scheme in early 2017.
The recent joint DCMS and Gambling Commission consultation on fees was extremely frustrating for some members of the BA. Change the method of fee calculation if you need to, but against a backdrop of overall fee reductions to the gambling industry, in general, please don't hand out fee increases of 200% or more to a few unfortunate retail Bingo operators. We ask DCMS/GC to look again at these anomalies of surely what must be unintended consequences.
The Gambling Commission's (GC) recent response to the consultation on Where Gaming machines may be played takes into account some of the issues raised by the BA. It doesn't adopt them all and I can understand why some members, particularly from the Bingo Extra sector, might be concerned. However I think we have to put some faith in the GC's assertion that their aim is not to penalise or question existing structures or business models, but rather to prevent the possibility of the more cynical and disingenuous operators attempting to get around current regulations.
Watch out everyone for IGRG (Industry Group for Responsible Gambling) work streams, as the RGT/GC backed projects start to tackle the issues of training and messaging best practice across the sector. This will affect us all.
In almost every foreword I find myself talking about harm minimisation and social responsibility. I am pleased to note that from a business perspective that for the year to date we have seen only four clubs closed; far fewer than in previous years, and business was doing very well almost right up until the Referendum. Since Brexit and the advent of a warm summer, the rest of the year has been more challenging.
Talking of politics, more changes to government personnel means once again the BA has to go out on the offensive, meeting a number of new political appointments and re-stating its position as a social and low risk activity. Fortunately Tracey Crouch stays in place as DCMS Minister with responsibility for gambling.
Finally - a brand new National Bingo Game is set to launch in January 2017. It will be a live game and the great news is that Gala is in. Unfortunately Mecca is out, however there is a long way to go with some finer details still to be refined, but it's looking good.
Enjoy the latest issue of what I think is a vastly improved Industry magazine.
Miles Baron
Editor | 
