Gaming brand betPawa has moved to take on the potential problem of gambling in the country by teaming up with counselling centre Baks-Calmare Enclave Foundation - to provide advisory and therapy services to address addiction.

Baks Foundation is the most active centre of its kind in Ghana. It has been around since 2018 and was officially registered as a mental health support foundation last year.

The foundation works mostly with young adults, offering them counselling services for overindulgence in gambling due to social and psychological factors.

betPawa will fund counselling services at the foundation.

Benchmarking upon global best practices such as in the UK where some betting companies fund addiction research and treatment, betPawa has taken the lead in Africa, beginning with Ghana.

betPawa’s mission is to promote responsible betting while also seeking to address any problem gambling among punters.

Last year betPawa provided IT equipment to the Gaming Commission of Ghana to launch a Responsible Gaming Call Center.

“The collaboration with betPawa to help persons addicted to gambling is a first in the country and places betPawa as a foremost socially responsible organisation,” said Baks Foundation’s Head Business Developer Kweku Asenso Brobbey.

The foundation is located at 6 Gowa Close in Roman Ridge, Accra. Its operation hours for guidance and support services are from 7 am to 9 pm on weekdays.

Aside from the problem gambling counselling services, the support by betPawa to the foundation, Brobbey added, gives people in Ghana an opportunity to benefit from other psychosocial support services.

This is crucial, he said, because such services cost a lot of money to access.