A new two-part study commissioned by the local charity organisation GambleAware and conducted by YouGov showed that overall gambling rates in the UK declined over the coronavirus lockdown. The same trend applied to median customer expenditures and gambling addiction rates.
A total of 12,161 individuals took part in the survey conducted by YouGov in the period from September 24th and October 13th, 2019. A recontact survey was held in May 2020, with 9,067 respondents from the first phase taking part in it.
As revealed by GambleAware, the survey used the so-called Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) to measure problem gambling. The aforementioned index consists of a number of questions regarding habits and thoughts related to gambling, with survey participants who had answered 1 to 2 of these questions with a “yes” were considered at low risk of developing a gambling addiction. The ones giving affirmative answers to 3 to 7 questions were considered at medium risk of becoming problem gamblers, and the ones answering with a “yes” to 8 or more questions were believed to be at high risk of being affected by gambling addiction.
According to the report, gambling participation rates in the UK fell by 10% from 49% registered in October 2019% to 39% in May 2020.
British People Gambled Less during the Lockdown, Study Reveals
The survey showed that only 4% of the research participants said they gambled more over the lockdown in comparison to the rates at they gambled before the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. More than half of the survey respondents said their gambling levels were pretty much the same they were before the lockdown, while 41% of the people who took part in the research said they gambled less than before the pandemic.
The GambleAware charity revealed that players who were considered to be at risk of developing problem gambling behaviour or gambling addicts in May 2020 were more likely to have gambled more than the players who were not considered at risk. As for the low-risk and medium-risk player group, about half of the players in each group were found to have gambled less after the lockdown than before the coronavirus pandemic.
When it comes to gambling expenditure, the results of the survey were pretty similar. About half of the players (51%) reported they spent about the same amount of money on gambling during the Covid-19 lockdown, while only 3% of the gamblers who participated in the survey admitted they spent more. About 41% of the survey respondents shared they spent less than they used to before the lockdown. Once again, the ones who showed signs of gambling addiction in May were more likely to have boosted their gambling spending than the ones who were not considered to be at risk of developing problem gambling behaviour.
GambleAware found that the number of gamblers at risk was also reduced, with the ones classified at low- or medium-risk players declining from 10% to 9%, while the ones considered at high risk fell from 3% to 2%. On the other hand, the majority of the people who were not classified as gamblers in October 2019 (86%) remained in that category even during the lockdown, while 12% gambled but showed no signs of getting affected by gambling-related harm, while 1% were put in the low-risk and in the medium-risk category, respectively.
National Lottery Draws Remained Most Popular Form of Gambling in the UK
As far as the popularity of the different types of gambling is concerned, the National Lottery draws remained the most popular form of gambling in the UK. Still, the percentage rate of people who participated in the draws fell from 36% before the lockdown to 27% during the pandemic social distancing measures.
Scratchcards had been the second most preferred form of gambling, with its popularity among British players declining from 10% to 7%, actually downgrading them in the third place. Other lotteries, including lotteries offered by charity organisations, kept their participation rates at 9%, moving into the second position by popularity.
The number of British players who placed bets on online football saw a massive decline from 6% to only 3% while betting on online racing events fell from 3% to 1%. Betting on the rest of online sports events also declined from 2% to 1%. Land-based betting also suffered a fall on each category to literally 0% because of the closure of all retail gambling venues across the country.
As Casino Guardian previously reported, the online casino sector was the only type of gambling that registered an increase in player participation, from 1.5% to 2.3%. This increase, however, was still smaller than the decline registered in online sports betting operations, because all major sports events on a global scale were put off or cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Author
Olivia Cole
