While the push to reduce to cur the issue of problem gambling in the United Kingdom surges on, everything may be going better than expected. According to a recent survey commissioned by the UK Gambling Commission, there was a slight decline in the number of problem gamblers in 2018.
According to the Gambling Participation: Behaviour, Awareness and Attitudes survey, it might not be as simple as stated above though. It states that the percentage of gamblers in 2018 had gone down by 0.5 percent which – compared to 2017, this was a 0.1 percent decrease. The survey was conducted for gambling across Wales, England and Scotland found that the biggest casualties of gambling-related harm were people aged between 35 and 44 years. Younger problem gamblers aged between 25 and 34 years declined by 1.2 percent compared to the figures that were reported for 2017. Gamblers aged between 16 and 24, on the other hand, reduced by 1.0 percent in 2018 when compared to the previous year.
As it turns out, gambling activities were most common among the older generation of people (aged between 45 and 54) with the most popular form of gambling the National Lottery. Despite still being the most popular form of gambling in the region, the lottery still fell by a whopping 32.1 percent compared to the previous year.
Do the Minimal Percentage Drops Count?
One of the biggest concerns in as far as the UKGC report survey results are concerned is the fact that the margin of error may have played a huge role. To put this into perspective, while these minimal decimal percentage bumps potentially represent thousands of people, the also happen to faall within the margin of error of a survey of that kind – this particular survey used a sample size of 4,009.
However, it goes without saying that these numbers do make a significant difference especially with regards to public outlook. Even a slight increase in the number of problem gamblers would result in more criticism being directed at the gaming regulator which, in turn, results in more regulatory pressure on the gambling industry. For instance, in 2016 when the problem gambling figures went up by 0.3 percent, a number of media outlets weighed in excessively on the issue with some even saying that the gambling addiction in the country had “almost doubled.”
Even so, the UKGC and stakeholders in the gaming industry still have a long way to go. One more notable aspect of the recent gaming commission survey was the fact that the public perception of the gambling industry is currently lower than it has ever been. Obviously, this needs to change as quickly as possible and hopefully, with the new rules and regulations coming to the industry in the course of the year, more positive things will be achieved.
