Problem gambling is one of the widely debated topics in Ireland and neighbour countries like the United Kingdom. Recent statistics from the UKGC and Irish Government have revealed that around 46% of adults (16+ years) have participated in different forms of gambling, and the figure is expected to go even higher in the coming years.
So, who is to blame?
What many people do not know, is that Ireland is suffering from a gambling problem. Ireland has the third-highest gambling losses per adult, in the world. According to the Department of Health, Ireland has in the region of 30,000 people with gambling problems (aged 15 and over). Problem Gambling. As stated by the Commission's official health survey, 0.7% of interviewees were grouped as problem gamblers in the UK and Ireland. Problem gambling in men is at 1.2% as compared to women, which is at 0.2%. Age-wise, people aged between 25 and 34 are more likely to be classified as problem gamblers.
According to the Gambling Commission's executive director Tim Miller, neither the government nor the gambling community is doing enough to find a solution to this problem. Also, GambleAware – UK's leading gambling charity has blamed the industry for not providing enough funds to enable the treatment of problem gambling. This article presents the latest statistic of problem gambling and some of the services aimed at helping problem gamblers.
At-Risk Gambling Without Gamstop
The statistics that were released by the Commission's official Health Survey indicated that 2.4% of adults in the UK were low-risk gamblers, while 1.1% were rated as moderate-gamblers. The low-risk gamblers are those people who have not been affected significantly by gambling, while the moderate-risk players are individuals who experience some negative consequences of gambling.
These players may google if there is a way to cancel Gamstop exclusion and continue playing with the help of CasinoGap or NonStopCasino. According to Gamstop and UKGC statistics, men are more likely to be low-risk gamblers as compared to 0.4% moderate-risk women gamblers. People aged 16 to 24 and 25 to 34 belong to the low-risk group (5.8% and 4.2%), and moderate risk gamblers occupy between 1.5% and 2.1%.
Problem Gambling
As stated by the Commission's official health survey, 0.7% of interviewees were grouped as problem gamblers in the UK and Ireland. Problem gambling in men is at 1.2% as compared to women, which is at 0.2%. Age-wise, people aged between 25 and 34 are more likely to be classified as problem gamblers.
Additionally, the industry has witnessed significant changes in online gambling behaviour, and the statistics are as follows:
- Online gamblers who play at home (below 35 years) – 96%
- Gambling at work – 20%
- Mobile phone gamblers – 55% (increased by 44% in 2018)
- Laptop or desktop gamblers – 45% (dropped from 50% in 2017)
- In-play gamblers – 23%
- Electronic sports gamblers – 5%
In 2018, the most popular gambling activity was the National Lottery draws (28%) and scratchcards and other lotteries (11%).
Services Aimed to Help Problem Gamblers
The increasing cases of problem gambling across all countries have led to the establishment of different services to provide solutions to victims of addiction. The most popular programs in the UK are:
Gamstop for Online Gambling
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has made it mandatory for all online gambling operators (UKGC licensees) to register with Gamstop before they are allowed to provide service within the jurisdiction. GamStop is one of the leading self-exclusion programs that allow individuals to self-exclude from participating in all forms of gambling. Gamblers can choose to be excluded for periods of 6 months, 1 year of 5 years.
However, the system has been criticized for having many flaws. For instance, players who had excluded themselves from gambling were still able to login to their accounts and gamble. But the management has promised to consider all the stated weaknesses in the system to make it better in the future.
SENSE for Offline Gambling
The Self-Enrolment National Self-Exclusion program (SENSE) was established to help people who believe in the problem with gambling and wish to self-exclude nation-wide from brick and mortar casinos. The SENSE scheme was started in 2015 and is operated by the National Casino Forum (NCF) on behalf of land-based operators.
Gamblers are required to provide personal details, including name, email, telephone number, photo, and signature, when registering at SENSE. All casinos that are registered with the SENSE scheme are not allowed to send promotional emails or any other marketing materials to blocked players.
THERE HAVE BEEN at least around 800 cases in Ireland where people sought help with gambling addiction since 2015, but these official HSE figures have been labelled 'the tip of the iceberg'.
The figures were released to Sinn Féin's Louise O'Reilly, who asked Minister for Health Simon Harris how many people had been treated for gambling addiction since 2015.
Gambling Problem Ireland Vs
Harris sent O'Reilly's request to the HSE but the body subsequently admitted its own figures don't paint an accurate picture of the scale of gambling addiction in Ireland.
The Dublin Fingal TD told TheJournal.ie that the government has refused to engage on methods to try to understand problem gambling in this country, and that we are already in the midst of a crisis that is going largely unnoticed by the government.
In its reply to O'Reilly, the HSE said that its addiction services have been 'traditionally funded to treat problematic drug and alcohol use, some cases of problematic gambling have been provided with treatment'.
‘Optional' reporting
In supplying the figures, the HSE said that the numbers available related to the number of cases reported to the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS).
'Reporting of gambling to the NDTRS is optional,' it said. 'Therefore, these figures cannot be considered complete or representative of the treatment for gambling in a national context.'
Nevertheless its figures show that there were 208 cases in 2015, 195 in 2016 and 219 in 2017. These were cases where gambling was designated the 'main problem' in those presenting for treatment.
In all, that's 622 cases in that three-year period.
The figures aren't yet finalised for 2018 but, with 60% of all relevant data available, there were 174 cases where patients were treated for a gambling addiction.
So, since 2015, there has been just under 800 cases – at the very least – where people presented with gambling addiction to a service under the auspices of the HSE.
It is more than likely that these figures vastly underestimate the true volume of problem gambling in Ireland, as the HSE noted in its response.
The issue with the NDTRS is that a form must be completed by each person presenting for treatment related to their drug, alcohol or in this case gambling use.
People also often turn to private providers and charities who offer addiction supports outside the remit of the HSE.
There is scant data available on the prevalence of problem gambling in Ireland, but research has been done in the UK to try to get a picture of how pervasive the issue is.
In England in 2016, it was estimated that there were around 300,000 problem gamblers, which is under 0.5% of the population.
Problem Gambling In Northern Ireland
The picture is far bleaker in Northern Ireland, which estimates that 2.3% of the population is classified as a problem gambler, or around 43,000 people.
Gambling Problem Ireland Coronavirus
‘Dedicated study'
We don't know what this figure is in Ireland because the dedicated studies on it simply have not been done.
There is some data available on how much Irish punters have lost on gambling, with a study by The Economist in 2017 saying Ireland's gambling losses totalled €2.1 billion a year, or €470 per adult.
O'Reilly said it was important that this problem was no longer ignored.
She said: 'We are not drifting towards a gambling crisis, we are in the middle of one and the government are afraid to look under the bonnet to see how big that crisis is.
Problem Gambling Ireland Twitter
With the Gambling Control Bill 2013 put forward by the government in the doldrums for quite some time, and a revised bill put forward by Fianna Fáil a year ago this month making slow progress in the Dáil, inaction is continuing from the government in legislating the gambling industry and the issues facing problem gamblers.
Gambling Problem Ireland Statistics
The Department of Health does have data on gambling use in Ireland on the way, but that will be based on data from 2014/15.
That will form part of the Drugs Prevalence Survey, which published its first tranche of data in 2016. The government has promised that more fuller data on gambling within our culture from that survey will be published soon.
Gambling Problem Ireland Wikipedia
Sinn Fein's O'Reilly believes that is not enough and wants the government to be more proactive on the issue.
Gambling Problem Ireland Map
'I've been calling for a dedicated gambling prevalence survey so we can understand the scale of the problem in this State, however, to date the government refuse to engage,' she said. 'In fact, they even refuse to run a problem gambling awareness campaign.'
