Three Quarters of UK Adults Now Gamble

The UK Gambling Commission watchdog has made available for public viewing the results of an independent analysis carried out by the National Centre For Social Research on the extent of adult involvement in gambling activities of the previous year.

The results of the Commission's report show that its 3rd yearly British Gambling Prevalence Survey discovered that approximately seventy three percent of adults in the UK engaged in gambling activities such as online casinos and poker as well as sports betting and lotteries at some juncture in 2010.   This was an increase from sixty seven percent in 2007.  The most prevalent reasons given for gambling  amongst adults surveyed were 'because it was fun' and for 'the chance to win big money'.

Surprisingly the survey found that even though more and more adults were gambling online, most playing online casinos, online poker and, increasingly, online bingo, the majority still gambled in more traditional outlets:

“The British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2010 shows that the British public takes part in a wide range of activities with still only a relatively small proportion gambling online,” said a release from the Gambling Commission.

The survey further found that there had been an augmentation in the number of adults in the UK who had a problem with compulsive gambling.  However the survey stipulated that it was impossible to know whether the was representative of a growing problem or merely a statistical blip.  One of the techniques used to gauge this that was used by the survey discovered that the percentage of UK gamblers with a problem increased from 0.5 % of the total UK population to 0.7 %, but they claimed this was statistically insignificant.  However a second method revealed an increase from 0.6 % to 0.9 % but they still claimed that this was only 'at the margins of statistical significance'.

The chariman of the Gambling Commission made the following statement:

“The British Gambling Prevalence Survey confirms that there are a significant and growing number of people who take part in gambling,”

“However, it also shows that a small but likely growing proportion of the population has serious problems with their gambling. This reinforces our determination to see that gambling regulation continues to both minimise the risk to those individuals who have problems with gambling addiction and ensure that the majority of people can continue to gamble safely.”

There was also a declaration that the number of UK adults with a problem with gamblnig were at a similar level to rates of other leading European countries including Norway, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.  However they further stated that the proportion of problem gamblers was actually lower than countries such as the United States, Australia and South Africa.

“To find out which treatment and prevention programmes really work we need a better understanding of how to reduce the harm experienced by problem gamblers and how to help them,” said Baroness Julia Neuberger, Chair for the Gambling Commission’s independent Strategy Board, which has the responsibility of reducing the dangers that can come with casino gaming and other forms of gambling. “This means the industry needs to meet agreed fundraising targets to pay for these programmes plus the supporting research.”