Gambling sponsors called to be banned from British sport as hidden harms revealed | Gambling

Official figures on the rates of The gambling problem in Britain – which has been reduced to just 0.3% – can “mask” the extent of the damage by including people who never gamble, warned a report published by the industry regulator.

Various studies suggest that the rate of gambling addiction in Britain ranges from 0.3% to 2.5%. But in the new report, that figure rises considerably when non-gamblers are excluded, and is even higher among those who play at online casinos.

The report by the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Glasgow concluded that 2.5% of British adults may have had a gambling problemeight times higher than previously thought. But the estimated rate of gambling addiction was 4.1% among those who had gambled in the past year.

He Game The Commission has warned that the latest figures use a different methodology to previous work and that the harm caused by gambling could be exaggerated or that previous surveys may have underestimated such harm.

The survey reported that 24.5% of respondents who had played online slots in the past year appeared to show signs of problem gambling, almost six times higher than the rate for all those who had gambled in the same period.

The industry has used population-wide figures to try to fight proposals for tighter gambling regulation, but rates of problem gambling are significantly higher when non-gamblers are excluded and riskier forms of gambling are examined.

A recent international study published in the journal Lancet It has found that globally, approximately one in six people (15.8%) who play online casino games or slots experience a gambling disorder.

A Australian Government Report As early as 2010, the danger of using population-wide statistics to assess the harm caused by gambling was warned about.

He added that this could be “misleading” for policy purposes given that many people do not gamble or participate in activities with higher rates of problem gambling.

The Gambling Survey in Britain published on Thursday by the Gambling Commission said: “The focus on population prevalence rates masks the strength of the associations between gambling and[Problem Gambling Severity Index]scores because they include people who do not gamble or gamble very infrequently.”

Will Prochaska, from the Coalition Against Gambling Ads, said legislation needed to be reviewed to ensure gambling was “allowed but not promoted”. He said the last government’s review of gambling legislation appeared to have relied on figures that may have significantly underestimated the harms caused by gambling. He said: “We need a new gambling law that puts the protection of the public at its heart.”

Liberal Democrat peer Don Foster, chairman of the Peers for Gambling Reform group, said the new survey figures were a “wake-up call” for urgent action.

He said ministers should implement the previous government's plan for a £100 million a year tax to gambling companies to carry out research, prevention and treatment to reduce gambling-related harm.

“We must also ban direct marketing and any form of sponsorship in sport. Gambling must be treated as a public health issue, just like drugs, alcohol and tobacco,” he said.

Premier League clubs were accused last week of greed after it emerged that 11 clubs will have a betting sponsor on the front of their shirts For next season, sponsorship on the front of shirts will be banned for the 2026-27 season.

A spokesman for the Betting and Gaming Council said it was concerned there was a “significant risk” that the latest findings from the British Gambling Survey exaggerated the harms caused by gambling.

The spokesperson said: “Our members are committed to raising standards and we welcome any robust research that accurately measures gambling and gaming participation and the prevalence of problem gambling.”

The Gambling Commission said a new methodology was being used for the survey. It said: “This methodology is new and it is too early to be used in isolation to make changes to policy or regulation.”