YouGov Poll Casts Doubt on Regulator’s Problem Gambling Rate Numbers
A new poll by YouGov has declared there are up to 1.4 million potential problem gamblers in the UK. The figures cast doubt on the UKGC’s 0.3% problem gambling rate and could mean an additional 1.5 million are deemed at risk.
New YouGove Poll Casts Doubt on Problem Gambling Figures © Pixabay.
A new YouGov poll has revealed as many as 1.4 million problem gamblers in the UK, just weeks before the government’s long-awaited white paper on the Gambling Act 2005 review.
GambleAware commissioned the survey that was conducted by YouGov last year and found that 2.8% of those who replied scored eight or higher on the problem gambling severity index.
The survey findings cast doubt on the Gambling Commission’s official problem gambling rate, which the regulator has set at 0.3%.
The Gambling Commission figure of 0.3, which the regulator reduced from 0.6 eighteen months ago, would equate to approximately 170,000 problem gamblers. In comparison, the YouGov figure of 2.8 would equate to 1.4 million, a difference of over 1.2 million.
Additionally, the YouGov survey found that 2.9% of the respondents scored between three and seven on the problem gambling severity index, indicating a further 1.5 million Britons are classed as being at risk of gambling-related harm.
When breaking down the figures into gender, 3.7% of those that scored eight or higher on the problem gambling severity index were men, while the proportion of women deemed problem gamblers sits at 2%.
Both sets of figures have increased since the last data sets in 2020. The 3.7% for males is up .4% from 3.3% in 2020, and the 2% women’s figure is up by .5 from the 1.5% in 2020.
When the figures for problem gambling are broken down by age, 18 to 24-year-olds are the category with the highest proportion with 7.1%.
The survey also found that 6% of respondents reported being affected by the problem gambling behaviours of others. This figure would equate to 3.3 million people when scaled up.
Not surprisingly, the National Lottery is the most popular form of gambling among those surveyed, with almost half (44.2%) of respondents saying they played during 2021. However, other gambling products, such as best UK online casinos and slot products, which the Gambling Minister Chris Philp said are “significantly more risky”, are among the fastest-growing verticals.
However, the Betting and Gaming Council, the trade body representing the interests of the majority of the licensed operators in the UK, has desputed the findings of this recent YouGov poll.
A spokesperson for the BGC said: “We do not recognise these figures which are not supported by the Gambling Commission’s most recent research which showed rates of problem gambling have been falling, according to the regulator at 0.3% – down from 0.6% 18 months ago.
“That’s equivalent to a drop of 340,000 problem gamblers down to 170,000 – not 1.4 million suggested by GambleAware,” they added.
The differences between the two surveys are likely to be due, at least in part, to the different methodology used in the surveys.
The YouGov poll asked respondents to complete the full nine-question PGSI survey, while the Gambling Commission used a shorter three-question screening via telephone.
