According to the Gambling Commission's second Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), which studies player behavior, younger adults are far more susceptible to suffering the most severe damage from gambling. A sample of 19,714 individuals from all over Great Britain was used in the survey to examine risk factors and participation trends.
Key findings on severe consequences:
Those ages 18 to 34 are more than six times likely than those older than 55 to face severe consequences from gambling, plaguing a percentage of 5.3% of respondents during the last 12 months, as against 0.8% for those older than 55.
The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) was used to determine symptoms of gambling disorder and harm from gambling. Of all players, 8.8% recorded a PGSI score of one to two, 3.1% recorded three to seven, and 2.7% recorded eight or more, indicating the level of problem or risk of harm.
Relationship breakdown was the most frequently reported severe consequence, affecting 1.6 percent of respondents.
Male participants who had a gambling history in the past 12 months were more inclined to experience at least one severe consequence (3.5 percent) than their female counterparts (1.7 percent).
Alarming are the findings revealed by 5.2 percent of respondents who reported suicide ideation or attempts during the last year, who related gambling to the ideation or attempts.
Gambling participation and preferences:
Half of the adults aged over 18 years had gambled at least once in the past four weeks. When lottery ticket purchases are excluded, this number goes down to 28 percent.
Online gambling (38%) was more common than in-person gambling (29%). Excluding lottery tickets, in-person gambling (18%) slightly overtook online gambling (16%).
The National Lottery remained the most popular form of gambling (31%), followed by charity lotteries (16%) and scratchcards (13%).
Men (51%) were more likely to have gambled in the past four weeks than were women (44%).
In terms of sentiment, 42% of gamblers spoke of positive experiences, whereas 21% viewed them negatively.
It turns out that luck and the thrill of winning large sums of money were the major causes for gambling (85%), followed by having fun (72%).
Lacking access to support:
Only 3.4% of those who indulged in gambling within the past year had sought support for their own gambling urge.
The most common forms of assistance were gambling support services (1.2%) and mental health or welfare organizations (1.7%).
Likewise, 3.3% reported that someone close to them had sought support for gambling-related issues.
Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, described the GSGB's crucial role in establishing an evidence base to enable the government, the industry, and partners to understand gambling behavior and its consequences. He also called upon operators to apply these findings in assessing risks generated within their customer populations and to inform the development of player protection measures.