Liverpool legend Luis Garcia celebrated the side’s crucial win against Chelsea today with fans at the No Bet Inn pub in Liverpool – but only with supporters willing to give up their mobile phone use and cut out gambling for the duration of the match.

With a whistle-to-whistle TV ban on gambling advertisements coming into place this August, GambleAware were encouraging fans to go the same distance without impulsive in-play gambling and avoiding the universal feeling of Bet Regret.

The Bet Regret campaign, launched in February this year, aims to support 2.4m young men aged 16-34 who gamble regularly. The purpose is to help prevent this at-risk audience developing a problem by driving self-reflection about their gambling behaviour.

New research conducted for GambleAware revealed that 58% of 18-44 year-old male sports bettors agree that they make impulsive bets in the heat of the moment, with such impulsive betting fuelled by 24/7 opportunities to bet, heavy promotion around live sport and strong alluring messages. But fans at the No Bet Inn in Liverpool shunned their second screens and the opportunity to gamble in favour of watching 90 minutes of action-packed football.

Garcia, most famous at his time with the Reds for his goals knocking out Chelsea in the 2004-05 Champions League and 2005-06 FA Cup, said from the event:

“Some of my fondest memories of playing football were with Liverpool, so it was great to have a chat with fellow fans and watch the current team play, and it was genuinely nice to watch a full match in the No Bet Inn without the distraction of a mobile in anyone’s hand. No checking Instagram, no updating Facebook and crucially, no betting in-play or whilst drinking. It’s crazy to see the number of fans placing ill-considered bets and regretting it afterwards, so it was great to remind people to think twice before betting, avoid Bet Regret and just enjoy the game”.

18% of 18-24 year-old online gamblers have bet in the pub over a four week period, but fans at the No Bet Inn in Liverpool’s city centre were given sealable pouches for their phones on entering the pub to avoid this potentially impulsive behaviour, with their release only activated at the final whistle.

At half-time during the game, fans were educated on the Bet Regret campaign as the “Drunk Betting” was aired, one of three adverts at the centrepiece of the Bet Regret campaign that identify the environments and situations – chasing losses, betting whilst drunk and betting whilst bored – that can lead sports bettors to make the type of bets that they immediately regret in a relatable way that will invite gamblers to think twice before placing such bets.

Marc Etches, Chief Executive Officer for GambleAware, said: “We created the No Bet Inn as a demonstration of our Bet Regret campaign and to make football fans think hard about their betting habits. At the No Bet Inn, people could enjoy the game and avoid BetRegret.

The is one part of a national campaign for safer gambling which launched in February to raise awareness of behaviours that people might not always recognise as impulsive or risky, such as sports betting when drunk, bored or chasing losses.”