Recent figures from the British Gambling Commission (GC), published on Oct 26 2021, suggest that rates of gambling harms in Britain have significantly fallen for the first time since their measurement began in 1999, with (conservative) rates of problem gambling falling from c.0.5-0.6% in the preceding four years to 0.3% in 2021.1 The Betting and Gaming Council, the leading lobbyist for the gambling industry, have been quick to attribute this change to their actions in promoting responsible and safer gambling (See https://bettingandgamingcouncil.com/news/betting-and-gaming-council-pledges-to-keep-up-the-momentum-as-new-report-suggests-problem-and-at-risk-gambling-rates-are-falling). Yet, the Gambling Commission report also shows that participation in gambling in the past four weeks has also declined in 2021, from a high of 47% in 2019 to 42% in 2021. This is no surprise, the COVID-19 pandemic saw nearly all retail forms of gambling close during various national lockdowns. In 2021, all retail gambling (apart from lottery tickets and scratchcards sold in shops) closed on January 6 2021. Bookmakers did not reopen until April 12 2021 and bingo halls and casinos, not until May 17 2021. Such restrictions on the supply of gambling activities are likely to affect who gambles, how often and their resultant experiences of harms.
These findings are consistent with our expectations of applying the total consumption model to gambling, whereby Rose and Day2 originally proposed that “the population mean predicts the number of deviant individuals “(their language). This suggests that when mean consumption changes, as it did during COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that the proportion of people experiencing problem gambling will change accordingly.3 This initial data from the Gambling Commission appears consistent with this hypothesis. Further support is provided by studies examining what happened during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March-June 2020, where around of one third of regular sports bettors simply stopped gambling altogether when neither sports nor their preferred form of betting were available.4
Understanding the patterns that underlie these trends is important. Retail-based gambling is a multi-billion industry that contributes over a third of revenues to the gambling industry and affects huge swathes of society. Given the stubborn stability of problem gambling rates in Britain observed over the last ten years, we should carefully consider the range of factors that influence their reduction. Inconvenient as it may be to some sectors of the gambling industry, considering the relationship between gambling availability and its relationship to harms should be part of this equation.
Declaration of interests
Viktorija Kesaite: Funding provided via a fellowship grant to Heather Wardle [Wellcome Trust]
Heather Wardle: Wellcome Trust, Humanities and Social Sciences Fellowship (2017-2022)
Economic and Social Research Council, Co-investigator on project looking at gambling and covid (2020-2021)
National Institute for Health Research, Co-investigator on two projects; 1) Football Fans and Betting Intervention project 2019-2023); 2) Screening for gambling harms in Local Authorities (2021-2023)
Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport, Co-investigator on review of loot boxes (2020)
The Gambling Commission, Co-investigator on project to develop new gambling prevalence survey (2021-2025)
Greater Manchester Combined Local Authority, Principle investigator on study examining gambling harms in Manchester (2019-2021)
Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, Co-investigator on two secondary analysis projects (2020-2022)
GambleAware, Principle Investigator on project looking at gambling and suicidality (2018-2019)
Institute of Public Health, Ireland, Payment for help with their submission to the Northern Irish Call for Evidence on their consultation around the Gambling Act Review; payment made directly to myself
Albert Gambling Research Institute, Travel fees to deliver keynote speech
New South Wales Responsible Gambling Fund, Payment for peer review
Victorian Responsible Gambling Fund, Payment for peer review
Lambeth Borough Council 2021, Payment for expert witness statements for the council defending their decision not to grant a gambling premise license
Turkish Green Crescent Society 2019, Travel and accommodation fees to attend WHO panel in Istanbul
Deputy Chair of the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling 2015-2020, Provided independent advice to government on gambling policy. Remuneration paid by The Gambling Commission directly to myself
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgements
N/A
Contributions
Literature search, data interpretation and writing of the letter was carried out by both authors.
References
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