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When the Fun Stops, Stop

Also: When the FUN stops, STOP · Take Time to Think

“When the FUN stops, STOP”

The UK gambling industry's 'responsible gambling' slogan campaign, created by the industry-funded Senet Group in 2015 and run by the Betting and Gaming Council after 2020, carried on TV ads, shop windows and operator ads; in October 2021 the BGC replaced it with 'Take Time to Think', a multi-million-pound TV campaign urging customers to use operators' safer gambling tools.

Years
2015–2021
Country
United Kingdom
Budget
Take Time to Think was described by the BGC as a 'multi-million-pound' campaign funded by members including William Hill, Entain, bet365, Flutter, Betfred and others; no figure published.
Topic
Gambling
Asks people to
Stop
Strategy
Simple instruction
Channel
Point of saleSocial (paid)TVWebsite
Audience
Adults
People who gamble in Great Britain, mainly sports bettors and online gamblers.

Evidence

PreregisteredNo effect

Three preregistered, incentivised randomised online experiments (Newall 2022, N about 3,000) found no protective effect of the 'when the fun stops, stop' message on real-money football bets or roulette; one yellow-version condition bet slightly more. A framing analysis (van Schalkwyk 2021) found the Senet Group's own evaluation did not support its effectiveness claims and that the campaign located harm in an atypical minority. No independent evaluation of Take Time to Think found.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Senet Group Industry, creator and funder (2015-2020)
  • Betting and Gaming Council Industry, owner (2020-2021) and funder of the Take Time to Think successor

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Newall PWS, Weiss-Cohen L, Singmann H, Walasek L, Ludvig EA. Impact of the 'when the fun stops, stop' gambling message on online gambling behaviour: a randomised, online experimental study. Lancet Public Health 2022 evaluation · 2022 · DOI 10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00279-6 · PMID 35487229
  2. van Schalkwyk MC et al. 'When the Fun Stops, Stop': An analysis of the provenance, framing and evidence of a 'responsible gambling' campaign. PLoS One 2021 evaluation · 2021 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0255145 · PMID 34437561
  3. BGC replaces 'When The Fun Stops' with new 'Take Time to Think' campaign (iGaming Business, 14 Oct 2021) news · 2021

Research notes

Drafted by Claude (Claude Code) on 2026-10-28 for #130 from the sources listed; unreviewed, including the cardSummary. Industry-sponsored: recorded as part of the record of 'responsible gambling' messaging, not as an endorsement. Start year 2015 (Senet Group founding) is from the PLoS One analysis background and should be checked; the case is in scope because it ran through 2021. BGC members were required to carry safer gambling messages on at least 20% of TV and radio ads under the earlier campaign (iGaming Business). Take Time to Think is folded in here as the direct successor; split it into its own case if its later bursts are documented.

Record cases/gb-bgc-when-the-fun-stops-stop.json, updated 2026-10-28· Link to this campaign