Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Special offer: Receive 12 issues for just £12!
Subscribe today
News

UK has 400,000 problem gamblers, report finds

One in every eight young men in the UK has experienced difficulty with gambling in the past year, study says

Problem gambling is now widely recognised as a clinical addiction, a pursuit that can lead to poverty and ruins lives.

And a new report by the Gambling Commission has revealed the full extent of damaging habits, estimating that the UK now has 400,000 problem gamblers.

The report’s authors found 0.8% of the population could be classified as having a “problem” gambling habit – an issue now worrying common among young men. One in every 50 British men between the ages of 16 to 34 was identified as having a gambling addiction.

A larger group – 3.9% of the adult population – were deemed “at-risk” gamblers, either addicted to gambling or in danger of developing a problematic habit.

Astonishingly, one in every eight men between 16 and 34 has “experienced some difficulty with gambling in the past year.”

Gambling continues to cause harm to a significant number of people in Great Britain

Tim Miller, the Gambling Commission executive director, said the report showed the commission faced a “significant challenge” in meeting its commitment to make gambling safer.

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

“The pace of change to date simply hasn’t been fast enough – more needs to be done to address problem gambling,” Miller said.

Sir Chris Kelly, chairman of the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, said: “These new findings show that gambling continues to cause harm to a significant number of people in Great Britain.”

Online gambling and Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) were among the forms of gambling used by problem gamblers.

The Big Issue has previously investigated the problems associated with the FOBTs. Players are currently able to bet up to £100 per spin on the machines, allowing people to pile up losses incredibly quickly.

The Labour party and campaign groups have called for the maximum stake on the digital gaming machines to £2 per spin.

There is no economic argument for those machines at all

FOBTs have been shown to disproportionally impact on the poorest communities in the UK. Earlier this year the Bafta-winning screenwriter Jimmy McGovern condemned the spread of the machines in high street bookmakers as “immoral.”

“There is no economic argument for those machines at all,” he told The Big Issue. “They are immoral. They should not be on our high streets. The rate of suicide would also go down if you banned them. It would help hundreds of people, maybe thousands.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

View all
Asylum seekers can stay at Epping hotel after government overturns court ruling
Epping asylum hotel protesters
Asylum hotels

Asylum seekers can stay at Epping hotel after government overturns court ruling

A day inside the clogged-up asylum court at the heart of Starmer's plans to close migrant hotels
An illustration of a family waving paper at a locked door
Social Justice

A day inside the clogged-up asylum court at the heart of Starmer's plans to close migrant hotels

Could the UK government end use of asylum hotels by 2026?
Asylum hotels

Could the UK government end use of asylum hotels by 2026?

Home Office halves time for new refugees to find a home in move 'guaranteed to increase homelessness'
a tent on the street
Homelessness

Home Office halves time for new refugees to find a home in move 'guaranteed to increase homelessness'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know