Research

GambleAware provides a loose fit on UK gambling attitudes 

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GambleAware has reported that more than five million people in the UK want to reduce or stop gambling altogether. Yet the headline figure appears loosely benchmarked against national population estimates.

The charity has used its annual Treatment and Support survey as a basis, which was conducted by YouGov over November and December 2024.

In total, the surveyed amounted to a total of 17,933 people, of which six in ten adults (60.8%) reported to have gambled at least once in the last 12 months at the time of the study.

Furthermore, the YouGov findings highlighted that one in six (16%) of those 60.8% reported that they want to either reduce or quit gambling entirely.

GambleAware’s estimate is based on extrapolated findings from a pool of 17,933 respondents against 2024 population figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a method that raises questions about the accuracy of its portrayal of public attitudes to gambling.

ONS figures showcased that the total UK adult population stood at 53.5 million people. GambleAware has taken that and multiplied it by the 60.8% figure from the YouGov study, loosely highlighting that 32.5 million people gambled in the 12 months before the study was conducted.

That 32.5 million estimate was then multiplied by the previously mentioned 16%, resulting in around 5.3 million people who want to either quit or reduce their gambling.

Again, these figures are purely speculative, with GambleAware imposing the results from a survey pool of 17,933 people over the total UK population of 53.5 million as per official ONS estimates.

What the survey actually says
Examining the survey alone, YouGov highlighted that 80% of the total respondents who gambled in the last 12 months were happy with their current gambling habits.

Of that total, 62% were confident that they do not gamble very much, while 44% saw no need to reduce or quit gambling as they have not experienced any negative consequences. Additionally, one in five (20%) said they viewed gambling as fun, while 9% saw no gains from reducing or quitting.

“The qualitative data shows that the main reasons for participants not wanting to make changes to their gambling were because they felt that their gambling was under control, or because they perceived it as a fun activity and enjoyed the occasional wins, alongside the potential of ‘a big win’,” the report said.

“This was even the case among those who had previously experienced ‘problem gambling’, where people preferred having clear limits and better control over how much they gamble, as opposed to wanting to reduce or stop altogether.”

GambleAware to provide needs until final day…
GambleAware has historically been the commissioner of gambling harm education, prevention and treatment across Great Britain, but will close its doors in March next year.

The decision to close down the Charity and its twenty years of services is due to the new statutory levy introduced by the UK government that appointed three new commissioners across England, Scotland and Wales.

Until its closure, the charity will remain fully active and ready to deliver the necessary support for those experiencing gambling harm, with services like its support finder or spend calculator expected to remain operational until GambleAware’s shutdown in March.

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Gambling Commission concludes four-part study on black market

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The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published the last out of a part-four series on its approach towards the black market.

While comprehensive, the Yonder Consulting-conducted report did recognise some of the caveats that obstruct the exact estimate of the prominence of the online black market in the UK.

Consumer awareness, drivers, and motivations
To understand the current trends better, the UKGC attempted to first build a profile of the typical black market player with part one of its study, published on 18 September.

With the agreement that it shouldn’t be treated as representative of all those who gamble online, the study outlined four typical characteristics of the users that engage with illegal gambling.

These are generally men, between the age of 18 and 24, who are active gamblers, and who usually rank eight or above on the PGSI problem gambling scale. They typically go to the black market to bet on football, for online bingo, or to play online fruit or slot games.

The motivation behind going out of their way to find illegal sites are most often better odds and offers, games unavailable elsewhere, access to alternative payments like crypto, no stake limits, and a low entry barrier – meaning weak ID or financial checks.

Still, the majority of responses painted illegal gambling as “supplementary rather than exclusive”, meaning people favoured more time and money spent on licensed websites.

Interestingly, however, this seemed to contradict another key highlight – the Commission established that players generally had low levels of awareness of the illegal iGaming market, with responses denying illegal play but indicating differently elsewhere, and vice versa.

Furthermore, only a minority of people was able to name specific black market operators – “numerous” responses named licensed providers as such. Almost all, however, responded that having a licence in the UK is important.

In conclusion, the first part of the Commission’s report found a “disconnect between perceived license importance, understanding if an operator is licensed, and knowledge of how to verify that”.

For the second part of its report, the regulator measured consumers’ rates of engagement with the online black market. Between May 2024 and July 2025, a total of 1,000 unique black market websites were identified, but “no overall increase in engagement in Great Britain”, the Commission stated.

Disruption strategies
Part three highlighted the three tactics that the gambling authority is utilising to hit the black market where it hurts the most. These are Regulation and Investigation (RI), Technological Advances (TA), and Marketing Strategy (MS).

RI includes legal and enforcement measures, such as cross-border collaboration with other institutions, tracking of illegal websites, blocking of such websites, and blocking payments to them, among others.

TA, meanwhile, focuses on eradicating the tools that black market operators are utilising to avoid scrutiny, such as indexing manipulation, VPN use, AI to evade detection, and URL concealment.

Lastly, MS deals with disrupting advertisers and affiliates based in the UK, enforcing advertising standards through the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), as well as in-depth analysis of SEO marketing.

Estimating the size of the online black market
The latest and final chapter in this four-part study uncovers the three approaches that the UKGC is taking to estimate just how prominent the black market is.

Through the dwell-time approach, the regulator estimates average engagement and time-spent-on-site data – but it largely relies on assumptions, and each additional assumption adds additional margins for error, the UKGC recognised.

The channelisation approach involves comparing engagement rates with the legal and illegal market, but the caveat here is also the need for multiple assumptions.

With the third approach, the UKGC bets on survey-based data. However, this can also often lead to misrepresented assumptions.

All in all, the conclusion was that illegal online gambling is “clandestine” and its exact size often changes and almost always remains in the shadows, with participation rates diluted by a wide range of consumer behaviours.

Reflecting on the latest findings and painting the way forward, Ben Haden, UKGC Director of Research and Statistics, commented: “We have set out areas of work to focus upon. By breaking down the challenge into its constituent parts, it is possible to see a pathway to making an estimate that is fit for purpose.

“Getting there will also need input from operators – data on the legal market will help us strengthen assumptions and update our evidence base. We are looking forward to further conversations to clarify what we need and how operators can help.

“While the exercise of trying to understand the macro-metric of the size of the illegal market is important, the generation of trend data – and insight into specific websites to target disruption activity, is arguably even more vital. We are pleased we are now able to better understand these trends and supply key operational data to our Enforcement Team.”

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Italy and Greece show highest levels of teenage gambling risk

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Collective research gathered across all EU states calls for authorities to understand the intertwining threats and changes to gambling harms impacting teen behaviours, in which the individual context of EU nations must be understood.

European authorities and public health organisations have been alerted to changing habits of male adolescents engaging with gambling across EU states.

The warning comes from the collective research agency ESPAD – the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs – which has published its 2024 Report on “substance use and risk behaviours among school students in the EU.”

The 2024 Report marks the eighth wave of research conducted by ESPAD since 1995, covering 37 European countries and capturing responses from more than 113,000 students aged 15–16. This extensive survey represents the largest harmonised data collection on youth substance use and risk behaviours in Europe.

The ESPAD study aims to gather comparable and standardised data to analyse trends in alcohol use, tobacco/vaping, illicit drug consumption, non-medical pharmaceutical use, social media and gaming, and gambling behaviours.

The insights are geared toward helping public authorities, health agencies, and educational bodies design evidence-based mental health and addiction prevention strategies.

However, audiences are cautioned not to draw simplistic “like-for-like” comparisons between countries, given the varying national contexts in terms of education systems, social inequality, cultural norms, and data collection methods.

Gambling is an evolving risk
The 2024 report draws particular attention to the issue of gambling among adolescents, especially male students, framing it as a growing behavioural risk that now warrants equivalent concern to traditional substance use.

Across the 37 participating countries, 23% of students reported gambling for money in the past 12 months, with significant gender disparity – 30% of boys versus 13% of girls. This places gambling well behind alcohol and tobacco in terms of raw prevalence, but closer to substances like cannabis and vaping in terms of how many young people engage with it.

However, the depth of engagement and potential for harm is higher in gambling than in some other behaviours.

Among those who gambled, about 5% of students overall met the criteria for problematic or excessive gambling, based on the Lie/Bet screening tool. Boys account for the vast majority of these high-risk cases, with up to 9% of male students in some countries exhibiting signs of gambling addiction.

Gambling vs other risks
While alcohol remains the most commonly used substance among EU adolescents (73% lifetime use), and vaping is now more prevalent than traditional smoking (44% vs. 32%), gambling is increasingly seen as a digital-age addiction threat.

Unlike substances, gambling often escapes early detection and is facilitated by smartphone access, online games, and unregulated betting platforms.

The 5% problem gambling rate sits between high-risk cannabis use (around 6%) and more severe substance-related disorders, indicating that gambling deserves a priority place in youth risk-prevention policies.

Where Gambling Risk Is Highest
Countries with the highest prevalence of gambling among teens include:

Italy – 45%

Iceland – 41%

Greece – 36%

Lithuania and Cyprus – both near or above 35%
In the above countries, land-based gambling (e.g., scratch cards, slot machines, betting shops) remains widespread, but online and mobile-based gambling is rapidly rising, particularly among male students in urban centres.

The ESPAD 2024 report findings were highlighted by Greek public health agencies as a key factor prompting the government to launch a nationwide education campaign targeting teenage gambling harms as part of a new public health strategy to combat gambling harms growing across all ages.

The campaign will focus on school outreach, digital risk awareness, and parental guidance, and will roll out in phases through 2025.

In Italy, the report’s implications coincide with the government’s broader regulatory overhaul. The upcoming Reorganisation Decree of Gambling will introduce specific laws and protections for under-18s, which will be enforced as licensing conditions for all gambling operators.

The draft legislation includes stricter ID verification rules, a ban on gambling premises near schools and educational institutions and enhanced penalties for under-18 violations.

Italy’s decree is expected to be finalised and enacted by early 2026, marking a significant shift in the country’s approach to adolescent gambling protections.

Where Gambling Is Lowest

By contrast, countries such as: Georgia (9.5%( and Sweden, Iceland, and Norway (under 15%) report the lowest levels of adolescent gambling, thanks in part to stricter regulation, stronger youth protection measures, and public awareness campaigns.

These nations also tend to report lower rates of problem gambling, with fewer than 5% of gambling students flagged for risky behaviour.

Blurring lines of gaming and gambling
One of the most significant findings in the report is the changing form of gambling among teenagers impacting the overall engagement and perception of gambling activities.

Case in point, online gambling platforms and mobile betting apps are now more common among boys than traditional methods. ESPAD notes that around 65% of students who gamble now do so via online platforms, either exclusively or in combination with land-based gambling venues.
However, dynamics are beginning to blur due to teenagers engaging more frequently with social games and gamified loot boxes in video games, that contain similar reward mechanisms to gambling – a condition that is being scrutinised by multiple EU states.

The trend raises urgent concerns for regulators and educators, as gambling is now embedded within digital entertainment ecosystems where supervision is minimal and exposure begins early.

Youth context matters…
2024 findings confirm that gambling, once considered a marginal issue among adolescent health risks, has emerged as a digital behavioural concern with growing addiction potential, particularly among young males.

Although still less prevalent than alcohol or vaping, its rapid digitisation, high addiction risk, and co-occurrence with other risky behaviours mean it demands the urgent attention of EU public health and education authorities.

As with all ESPAD research, these results provide guidance for evidence-based policymaking, but with a clear caution: context matters, and country-specific interpretations are essential to effective activity.

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Swedish study finds gambling disorder alone does not drive people to suicide

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A major Swedish study has found that gambling disorder alone does not independently predict suicide or premature death. Instead, co-occurring issues such as substance use disorders, low education, psychiatric conditions, and poor socioeconomic status are the strongest drivers of early mortality among people diagnosed with the addiction. The research, published in the Journal of Gambling…

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Green Crescent warns Turkey of intensity of gambling youth and suicides

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Authorities in Turkey have been warned by Yeşilay (The Green Crescent) that “gambling addiction is growing in numbers and its intensity on public impact”. Turkey’s heritage public health NGO focused on the prevention and research of addictions, Yeşilay has published the “Kumar Raporu 2025” (Gambling Report 2025). The NGO presented a comprehensive analysis of gambling trends, addiction…

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UK Gambling Commission lifts lid on black market activity

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The UK Gambling Commission has released the first phase of a new study that seeks to provide insight into the illegal online gambling sector in the UK.

Initially focused on consumer awareness, drivers and motivations to engage with the black market, the research, conducted by Yonder Consulting, revealed only a minority of players were aware they were straying into the illegal market.

The research also found that those using the black market were more likely to prioritise better odds, playing games unavailable in the UK and alternative payment methods.

Others chose to do so due to the lower barriers to entry, such as ID verification processes, and the ability to circumvent protection measures like self-exclusion.

Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, commented: “The illegal online market is unsafe, unfair and criminal – that is why the Commission has invested heavily in this area in recent years.

“To be even more effective in combatting the illegal market it’s vital that we have both a deep and broad understanding of how it operates, and this insight is a crucial step in building that understanding in a very complex area to research.”

According to the research, users of illegal sites fall into four distinct categories.

‘Self excluders’, those who have previously chosen to self-exclude from licensed sites but feel the urge to gamble again.

Meanwhile, ‘social explorers’, players who typically discover sites through social media and affiliate websites, and ‘accidental tourists’, are both likely to be unaware they are playing on an illegal site.

“I didn’t realise these sites might be unlicensed. I didn’t even think about their being UK based or otherwise,” said one respondent in the latter category.

Finally, ‘skilled advocates’ are players who “knowingly and systematically engage with illegal websites”, and are motivated by the desire to acquire new skills and explore a variety of new game types.

Individuals in this group tend to find websites by engaging in conversations with other gamblers through platforms like X, Whatsapp, Facebook, Telegram and Reddit.

The Betting and Gaming Council estimates that £2.7bn is staked annually on the online black market in the UK, equivalent to 2.1% of the amount staked with regulated operators.

Despite engaging with black market sites, the majority of respondents agreed that it is important for operators to hold a licence to offer their services in the UK.

“We are determined to protect consumers and maintain confidence in the regulated sector by taking robust, evidence-led action,” Rhodes emphasised.

“Since April 2024 we’ve seen a ten-fold increase in our disruption activity, and we intend to continue to work with a wide range of partners to build on this success.”

The release of the study marks the start of a phased publication in the coming months, with later work focused on engagement and data trends, enforcement and disruption activity and the challenges of estimating the size of the UK’s black market.

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1XBet announces International Player Safety Index

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Online operator 1XBet announced the launch of its International Player Safety Index, a series of reports produced in collaboration with SBC Media yesterday (September 16) at the SBC Summit in Lisbon. 1XBet has set out to understand how leading operators and regulators across Western Europe approach safer gambling and will turn its attention to other…

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UNLV gaming institute names second round of ESPN Research Fellows

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The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) International Gaming Institute (IGI) has announced the second round of annual ESPN Research Fellows.

ESPN partnered with UNLV in late 2023, signing on as the founding donor of new research leveraging the IGI’s knowledge to develop a program supporting responsible gaming policies and related education and implementation. Last year, the IGI launched the inaugural ESPN Research Fellowship initiative, recognizing educators for their responsible gambling-related projects.

UNLV noted that this year’s group of scholars have put forth proposals aimed at advancing the understanding of responsible gambling messaging in sports media and its implications for consumer well-being.

The class of 2025 consists of:

Dr. Brandon Mastromartino, director of the Institute on Sports Wagering and Gaming and assistant professor of experiential marketing at the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University. His project wi..

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GambleAware: prize draws normalising gambling a ‘troubling trend’

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GambleAware has published its annual report for 2024, citing concerns over a rise in marketing around prize draws such as McDonald’s Monopoly and Omaze, as it reported a significant rise in gambling harm support in the past four years.

Prize draws were highlighted within GambleAware’s ‘Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey 2024’ for the first time, but this vertical is not regulated as a licensed form of gambling.

The gambling support charity noted that prize draws are a vertical in which people who gamble are either estimated to be experiencing any level of problems from participating, around one in four (27%), while around one in nine (11%) are estimated to be experiencing ‘problem gambling’ (PGSI 8+).

GambleAware has warned that prize draws have “many similarities to certain types of gambling”, the risks associated with them may not be understood and that they normalise gambling, particularly for young people and children.

Image: GambleAware’s ‘Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey 2024’

Treatment and support survey

Conducted by YouGov, GambleAware’s ‘Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey 2024’ is an online quantitative survey of 17,933 adults in Great Britain, as well as a qualitative element.

Fieldwork was undertaken between 25 November 2024 and 23 December 2024. The survey included 17 one-on-one depth interviews with people who gamble and seven one-on-one depth interviews with people who recently started gambling.

According to the report, almost one in three (30%) adults who gamble and are experiencing any risk of gambling problems want treatment, support or advice, almost doubling the 17% figure from 2020.

GambleAware noted that the increase “could be an indicator of gambling harm as a growing issue across the country”, adding that the proportion of adults who are experiencing ‘problem gambling’ has risen to 3.8% in 2024 (2020: 2.4%).

There has also been an increase in the number of people being impacted by a friend or family member’s gambling, from losing money to having a relationship break down, with the figure increasing to 8.1% (2020: 6.5%), equivalent to an estimated 4.3 million adults.

“Gambling can be highly addictive, with devastating impacts on people’s lives, relationships and financial stability,” noted Zoë Osmond OBE, CEO of GambleAware.

“While it is encouraging that more people have sought help, this rise may also point to a growing public health crisis.”

‘Urgent preventative action’

The report also spotlighted children’s exposure to gambling, with 91% of people backing a ban on gambling advertising on TV and video games, while 90% support a social media ban.

Osmond noted: “We are increasingly alarmed by how gambling is being normalised and how frequently people—especially young people—are exposed to gambling across Great Britain. To reverse this troubling trend, urgent preventative action is needed. This must include tougher regulation of gambling advertising to stop gambling being portrayed as ‘harmless fun’.

“There should also be mandatory health warnings on all gambling ads, stricter controls on digital and social media marketing, and a full ban on gambling promotion in stadiums and sports venues to protect children and young people from harm.”

National Lottery and cost of living

The report also asked for perspectives on the UK National Lottery, which were mixed, as 45% of people agreed that the National Lottery was good for society overall, while 14% disagreed with the statement.

Perceptions of National Lottery game types were varied due to their characteristics, as draw games’ delayed gratification and lower cost per play were associated with less risk, while instant win games’ game design and ease of access were viewed as more addictive and harmful.

Image: GambleAware’s ‘Annual GB Treatment and Support Survey 2024’

80% of respondents also said that gambling had no impact on their financial situation in the past three months. However, those who were experiencing ‘problem gambling’ were the only PGSI group where the majority reported that gambling had some impact on their financial situation recently – 44% said it improved, while 23% said it had worsened.

The PGSI 8+ group were also more likely to report that the cost of living had impacted their gambling, with 43% saying they had gambled more, 30% saying it had no impact, while 23% said they gambled less.

The proportion saying they were gambling more increased with PGSI score, with the report stating that the findings show people experiencing ‘problem gambling’ don’t all experience the cost of living the same way regarding their gambling habits.

September 15 will see SBC organise a groundbreaking charity football event in Lisbon. Make sure you get the chance to see some of the most legendary names in football by securing your ticket today at https://www.legendscharitygame.com/

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