GAMBLING-RELATED HARMAS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE

Professor Sian M Griffiths

21 March 2019

TODAY’S PRESENTATION

• Who gambles?

• What harms?

• 2 key issues

• On line

• Young people

• Role of GambleAware

• What more needs to be done to create an effective a public health approach?

Who gambles?

NON-PROBLEM45%

AT RISK15%

PROBLEM0.1%

0.8%Problem Gamblers

3.9%At-risk Gamblers

58.3%Non-problem Gamblers

37%Non-Gamblers

• Problem gamblers are a relatively small audience, least likely to change and requiring treatment.

• Targeting those at risk and non-problem gamblers to prevent progression into problem behavior, as likely more able to enact behavioural strategies*.

*Blaszczynski & Gainsbury ±Gambling Participation Survey

WHO

An inequalities issue

What harms ?

• Our proposed definition is that “gambling-related

harms are the adverse impacts from gambling on

the health and wellbeing of individuals, families,

communities and society”.

• Problem gambling costs the UK up to £1.2bn a

year.

Impacts of gambling

Levels of harm

Problem : on line gambling

97% of online gamblers gamble at home

50% of online gamblers gamble using a laptop

0.8%of people aged 16+ in Great Britain identify as problem gamblers (2015)

26%of online gamblers have bet in-play in the past four weeks

Gambling participation

:

45%of people have gambled in the past four weeks

48%of men have gambled in the past four weeks

41%of women have gambled in the past four weeks

18%of people have gambled online in the past four weeks

Gambling Commission data

14%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that have gambled in the last week

66%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that have seen gambling advertising on TV

1.7%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that are defined as problem gamblers

26%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that have seen their parents gamble

13%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that have played online-gambling style games

12%Percentage of 11-16 year olds that follow gambling companies on social media

Source :https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/Statistics-and-research/Levels-of-participation-and-problem-gambling/Young-persons-survey.aspx

Problem : Young people gambling

We are dealing with a changing world ……• Children and young people are growing up in a vastly different world than most of us here did.

• Their world is dominated by technology and being almost constantly connected to the world via the internet.

• 1 in 8 11 to 16 year olds are following gambling companies on social media

• A recent report by the Gambling Commission found that 31% of children surveyed between the ages 11-16 had engaged with loot boxes

• When the BBC interviewed young people about loot boxes, they themselves talked about loot boxes as gambling.

• A recent Gambling Commission survey found an increase in students who gamble, with 2 out of 3 gambling, many online.

• We are concerned with the growth in examples where the line between video gaming and gambling is becoming increasingly blurred. (Tim Miller)

• And it may well be that with the greater numbers engaged in online gambling, the risks of health-related harm will grow, particularly amongst younger people.

THE ROLE OF GAMBLEAWARETHE CURRENT LANDSCAPE

About GambleAware• GambleAware is an independent charity tasked to fund research, education and treatment

(RET) services to help to reduce gambling-related harms in Great Britain.

• Trustees are all independent of the gambling industry

• Regulated by the Charity Commission

• GambleAware is a commissioning and grant-making body, not a provider of services.

• The charity’s main source of funding is a levy imposed on all gambling operators serving

customers in Great Britain, as a condition of their licence

• This is backed by the threat of a statutory levy already in law as section123 of the Gambling Act, but not yet

implemented)

• We currently ask for 0.1% of Gross Gambling Yield (stakes minus prizes), and aim to raise £10m

a year

• This is the sum agreed by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board as necessary to deliver the core RET services set

out in the National Responsible Gambling Strategy.

Gambleaware https://about.gambleaware.org/

• Media work

• Leading Safer Gambling campaign

• Guided by RGSB

• Gambling Commission consulting on new strategy

• NGO led

• Specialist clinics

• Networks

• GAMCARE

• Advice [CAB]

• Schools

• Parents

• Armed forces

• Prisons

Education Treatment

Advocacy Research

• The Bet Regret campaign is about raising awareness of behaviours that people might not always recognise as impulsive or risky, such as sports betting when drunk, bored or chasing losses.

• We want people to identify with the campaign.We want them, to realise they have those kick-yourself moments when betting.

And we want them to reflect on their behaviours, helping prevent ill-considered bets in the future, which are so often the pathway towards harm.

Gambling related harm is going up the agenda

• Example : Whistle to whistle ban • Football and gambling have been inextricably linked for nearly a century, since the launch of the football pools in

1923.

• More than 90 minutes of adverts were shown during the football World Cup and anti-gambling campaigners say sport's use of adverts "normalises" betting.

• Nearly 60% of clubs in England's top two divisions have gambling companies as shirt sponsors.

BUT marketing spend online is five times the amount spent on television.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/46453954

PHE: Launching in May:

NHS help on line

EDUCATION

PARTNERSHIP

NHS 10 year plan

• 2.36. We will invest in expanding NHS specialist clinics to help more people with serious gambling problems. Over 400,000 people in England are problem gamblers and two million people are at risk, but current treatment only reaches a small number through one national clinic. We will therefore expand geographical coverage of NHS services for people with serious gambling problems, and work with partners to tackle the problem at source.

Evaluation :Value of treatment Average of all treatment completions in 2017/18

Problem Gambling Severity Index

Core – measures extent of common mental health problems

Gambling is a challenge for public health !

• Legal

• Lots of people gamble safely

• Lots of people enjoy gambling

• BUT

• Potentially harmful

• Inadequately regulated ,particularly on line

• Inadequate education , treatment and engagement of public health and NHS, industry and others of influence

• Lack of evidence base for policy making

• Linked to health inequalities

• (personal view !)

Taking up the challenge :The public health approach

• Lack of research evidence but :

LGA/PHE guidance as a call to action

• Harmful gambling is increasingly cited as a public health issue which requires a broad response; that is to say, traditional approaches that focus on single interventions do not tend to work at a population level

• https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/

• 10.28%20GUIDANCE%20ON%20PROBLEM%20GAMBLING_07.pdf

Some current issues to address:

• Growing profits from on line gambling • Advertising around sport • Inadequate regulation for the modern world • Increasing numbers of children involved in gaming/gambling • Links to mental health problems, including suicide • Inadequate recognition by health services• Lack of education of health care /other professionals • Reliance on industry funding of independent charity for research,

education and treatment • Inadequate research funding /activity • More like sugar than tobacco

Addressing the problems

• Coherent policy for regulation at national and local levels • Develop the evidence base , raise the profile and link to other strategies to

address health inequalities

• More supportive environments • building evidence-based harm minimisation strategies in communities and

gambling environments including industries .

• Strengthening community action • tackling stigma, building awareness and community support for change

• Developing personal skills • building evidence-based prevention programs for the whole community and

those at risk of harm

• Reorienting health services • – strengthening evidence-based early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation

pathways for problem gamblers

Thank you