Publishing its evaluation report on the ‘Credit Card Ban for Gambling in Great Britain’, the National Centre for Social Research, aka Natcen, has revealed that the credit card ban has been felt most significantly by those experiencing low level or no levels of gambling harm.
It did, however, add obstacles to the process of borrowing money for gambling, which was one of the ban’s principal aims.
The NatCen report stated: “The ban seemed to have a more noticeable impact on those experiencing a low level of, or no reported problems from gambling, who were less likely to (directly and indirectly) use credit cards for gambling after the ban.
“We saw a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of people experiencing a low level of, or no reported problems from gambling.”
On gambling behaviours, NatCen concluded: “Overall, among all people who gamble, the proportion of people using credit cards to borrow money for gambling has remained fairly stable. In the pre-ban wave in Ma..