The largest gambling charity organisation in the UK – GambleAware – has announced the results of a new report that highlights the rates of gambling-related harm suffered by minority groups in the country.
The survey, which has been held by ClearView Research and Ipsos UK and supported by the University of Manchester, found that despite lower rates of participation in gambling, members of minority groups across the country are more likely to face some form of gambling-related harm in comparison to members of white British majority groups. According to the results of the research, gambling-harm rates in local minority groups is 42%, in comparison to 20% measured among white British majority groups.
The result of the nationally representative survey occurred even though 17% more white Brits participate in some form of gambling than the minority groups.
Furthermore, the survey found that white British people were three times less likely to use gambling as a coping mechanism for difficulties in life. A total of 18% of local gambling minority groups have admitted to doing so in comparison to only 6% of the majority group.
Even though researchers have noted that further research is necessary to establish the exact reasons that act as drivers that lead to higher gambling harm rates in minority communities across the UK, the results of the survey clearly emphasised the fact that such community members were much more vulnerable to the negative consequences of gambling and are exposed at higher risk of suffering from gambling-related harm.
More In-Depth Data Necessary to Evaluate the Exact Negative Effects from Gambling Suffered by Minority Groups
The Director of Impact at ClearView and one of the major contributors to the report, Niamh McGarry, explained that the research helped demonstrate the inequalities between minority groups and white British majority groups in the country, including the differences in the experienced negative effects that gambling has on such people.
The CEO of GambleAware, Zoë Osmond, confirmed that GambleAware will stick to its commitment to getting more information about the gambling habits of minority groups across the country and the negative effects resulting from these habits. The charity organisation will also continue to dig into the drivers that trigger gambling-related harm experienced by these communities.
Ms Osmond shared that the higher prevalence of gambling-related harm among local minority groups, combined with the fact that people originating from such communities are less likely to get professional help to deal with their compulsive gambling, is really concerning and comes to demonstrate the need for further inquiry across the sector, and respectively, more customised solutions. She explained that all the parties involved just have to break down the barriers to accessing professional help and support for local people, no matter which community they are from, and challenge the discrimination and stigma faced by individual players and communities across the country.
- Author
Daniel Williams
