Gamcare stated that the Pandemic’s Effect on Gambling is Unclear. It went on to carry further tests to determine the impact. (Image by Josh Appel on Unsplash)
The rate of online gambling participation experienced a 3% increase in July 2021.
This is unlike the past year, while in-person participation had an 8% point decrease to 34percent, as a new UK Gambling Commission data revealed. These findings are based on the regulator’s telephone survey carried out quarterly and organized by Yonder Consulting. To get these findings, 4010 adults within the ages of 16 and above were interviewed in September and December 2020, March and June 2021, over the telephone. Most of the data for the year until June 2021 was gathered when the lockdown was partially in place or activities were restricted.
Statement From GamCare’s Chief Executive
Anna Hemmings, the chief executive at GamCare, had a response to the new statistics. She noted that:
The pandemic’s effect was unclear, and it was not certain that it was short or long term. She further stated that online gambling is a rising problem for individuals who called the National Gambling Helpline, and they wanted people to know they were available to help them.
In addition, she stated that most of the people reaching out to them were gambling online, and their treatment and helpline data revealed that this was a major issue for them and individuals utilizing their services. She revealed that individuals getting over the harms of gambling could find it hard to appreciate the live sport.
She also said that:
The figures provided did not cover the Euro’s tournament that happened recently, and they will keep on watching if there will be a prospective increase in the number of callers over the coming months, considering the number of sports events coming up over the summer and casinos and betting shops reopening. This is in addition to the hardships individuals have suffered during the pandemic.
She concluded by urging individuals dealing with gambling problems to reach out to them, regardless of if it was their gambling problem or that of someone. She emphasized that they understood and urged that these troubled individuals get in touch.
Besides, the report showed that the average participation in gambling activities during the previous four weeks has dropped to 42%, which indicates a 3.5%-point drop in comparison to June 2020. What’s more, the overall rate of gambling problems is statistically stable at 0.4%, while there has been a significant decline in moderate risk rate to 0.7% in comparison to June 2020, when it was 1.4%.
Gamcare is one of the UK’s most vocal forces when it comes to safer gambling. It is involved in multiple projects for example we recently wrote a report on how the organization is ready to close gambling transaction block loopholes.
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