A new study, funded by the UK Gambling Commission, has found that online scratchcards and instant win games share many of the same addictive design features as slot machines — despite being subject to lighter regulation. The Gambling Policy and Research Unit (GPRU) of independent consultancy BIT warns that these products are “structurally and behaviourally…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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..
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/
GamCare has urged partners and stakeholders to review the latest insights from updated research on domestic abuse in the UK, conducted in 2025 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
New insights drawn from the 2025 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), are based on a new methodology aimed at capturing the evolving nature of abuse.
This recommendation comes from GamCare’s Women’s Pathway Team, a dedicated research unit focused on understanding the impact of gambling-related harm and addiction on women.
The ONS updated its domestic abuse questions to reflect legal changes, shifting societal attitudes, and increased recognition of non-physical forms of abuse.
The revised questions now include previously under-reported abuse types such as coercive control, economic abuse, health-related abuse, and abuse linked to marital status. The survey also distinguishes between abuse by intimate partners and by family members and, for the first time, asks about how frequently abuse occurs.
In the year ending March 2024, 3.9 million adults aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse. The data shows that 9.5% of women and 6.5% of men reported being affected. Since the age of 16, more than a quarter of adults—26.1%, or around 12.6 million people—have experienced some form of domestic abuse.
GamCare welcomed the updated figures as a step forward in understanding the full scope of abuse. Although the ONS survey does not directly link gambling to domestic abuse, GamCare notes that many of the women who seek its support report experiences involving financial control and emotional manipulation linked to a partner’s gambling.
The Women’s Pathway Team says it regularly hears from women who are pressured into taking out loans, handing over money, or facing emotional coercion as a result of a partner’s gambling. These forms of abuse often overlap with those now recognised by the ONS, particularly financial and psychological abuse.
GamCare is calling on professionals across health, domestic abuse, criminal justice, and gambling support services to review the ONS data and recognise how gambling-related harm can intersect with domestic abuse. The charity is also urging services to adopt trauma-informed approaches, as many women face significant barriers to seeking help, including manipulation, isolation and fear.
Support is available through GamCare’s Women’s Pathway Programme, which offers individual services and the dedicated Way Forward support group. The organisation emphasises a person-centred approach, stating: “Our priority is to listen to your experience and offer support that centres on your needs.”
Women seeking support can contact the Women’s Pathway Team by emailing womenspathwaysupport@gamcare.org.uk or by calling the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.
Further domestic abuse support is available through Refuge, which runs a 24-hour national helpline on 0808 2000 247. Women’s Aid provides local support through its online directory at www.womensaid.org.uk
Those affected by financial abuse can find resources at survivingeconomicabuse.org, and support for intimate image abuse is available via the Revenge Porn Helpline at www.revengepornhelpline.org.uk
In wider developments, GamCare has launched a tender to appoint an academic partner to conduct an independent review of the Women’s Pathway Programme.
The review will assess how effectively the programme removes barriers that prevent women from accessing gambling-related support, and will help guide its future strategic development.
GamCare’s call for engagement comes at a time of growing recognition that cross-sector collaboration is essential to supporting people affected by both gambling harm and domestic abuse.
GambleAware is calling on the UK Government to produce safer gambling video guidelines after new research brings into question the impact of operator’s safer gambling adverts.
In addition, the charity is also calling for more effective monitoring and accountability for industry-led campaigns, as well as a consistent framework to ensure adverts are protective.
Conducted by Thinks Insight & Strategy with academic expert Professor Elliot Ludvig, the research examined the effectiveness of safer gambling video campaigns currently being used by major operators.
Videos used include a control video, ‘Magnets’ stigma campaign by GambleAware, Play at your best by Betfair, Top tips for positive play by William Hill, Take time to think by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), as well as Made to play safely by 888.
Participants were randomly exposed to the different safer gambling video adverts, followed by a simulated online environment in which the video’s effect on their subsequent inclination to gamble was captured. This was done to see what safer gambling message types affect gambling behaviours and attitudes, as well as how effective operator methods were in reducing harmful gambling.
‘Backfire effects’
The study noted that Top tips for positive play by William Hill and Made to play safely by 888 adverts had “backfire effects” and led to a significant increase in click-through rates compared to the control.
According to the study, these videos “may encourage gambling engagement, potentially due to their framing or the promotional nature of their messaging. Attitudinal survey results suggest the videos may reinforce the idea that gambling is safe, create a false sense of security, increase gambling intent, and, despite being perceived as trustworthy, subtly downplay gambling risks”.
The study noted that 45% of participants that were shown the Made to play safely by 888 felt as though it suggested gambling was harmless fun, while this figure was 38% for the Top tips for positive play by William Hill.
Ludvig stated: “The study suggests that some safer gambling videos from gambling operators have a backfire effect, encouraging gambling and having the opposite effect to their intended purpose of helping people control how much they gamble.
“The findings from this experiment should be used to help to guide the design of effective safer gambling advertising videos and establish standards for measuring their impact.”
Other results
The ‘Magnets’ stigma campaign video was shown to have ‘protective effects’, resulting in a significant decrease in click-through rates, as their personal narrative and serious tone may have helped to foster “greater awareness of gambling harms”.
In addition, the attitudinal survey results suggest that the video “effectively normalises gambling problems as widespread, encourages self-reflection, counters the idea of gambling as harmless fun, and is perceived as trustworthy, potentially enhancing its protective impact on behaviour”.
Of the participants, 15% thought the advert suggested that gambling was harmless fun.
Play at your best by Betfair and Take Time To Think by the BGC were said to not produce significant behaviour changes, as the study stated that the Take Time To Think messaging “had no effect” while the Play at your best “had a straightforward, clear communication style and did not backfire”.
The videos were also said to be able to provide “useful strategies for managing gambling but do not strongly encourage self-regulation or behaviour change, slightly increase gambling intent, and foster a sense of control without clearly influencing gambling decisions”.
Of the participants, 39% thought Play at your best by Betfair suggested that gambling was harmless fun, while this figure was 32% for Take Time To Think by the BGC.
Industry can’t ‘mark its own homework’
GambleAware also noted that the study found that the industry-produced adverts increase gambling intentions among communities most at risk, including younger people and those experiencing gambling problems, as on average, 14% of those aged 18-34 clicked on the “pop up” advert to place a free bet, compared to vs 4% of those aged 55+.
In addition, the charity mentioned that gambling operators are supposed to allocate 20% of their digital and broadcast advertising budgets to safer gambling messaging on digital channels, but prior to this study, there was a lack of monitoring this and a lack of published evidence showing the potential impact.
Alexia Clifford, GambleAware Chief Communications Officer, said: “This new research shows that so-called ‘safer gambling’ videos produced by gambling operators could be doing more harm than good. It’s unacceptable that adverts claiming to help people reduce their risk of harm are encouraging people to gamble more instead.
“The gambling industry cannot be left to ‘mark its own homework’ on such an important issue. We need stronger legislation on gambling marketing and advertising, including more effective monitoring of gambling industry-led advertising campaigns, health warnings on all gambling advertising, and for all adverts to signpost to where people can get help for gambling harms.”
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/
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) has published trends and insights on mental health and common disorders impacting the treatment of adults in the UK.
Commissioned by NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) the study provides insights and the prevalence of the UK’s nine most common mental health disorders including, depression, bipolar, psychosis, ADHD, OCD, trauma, phobias, drug addiction and problem gambling.
Among these, the APMS sheds new light on problem gambling—not as a standalone behavioural issue but as one frequently linked with deeper mental health challenges. Based on structured clinical interviews and a nationally representative sample, the survey finds that just 0.3% of adults in England meet the clinical threshold for problem gambling, with 0.9% of those who gambled in the past year affected.
This figure sits far below the 2.5% prevalence rate cited by the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) in 2023. That contrast has sparked debate over statistical rigour.
Gambling advisory Regulus Partners, has criticised the Commission’s handling of gambling regulation, argues that the GSGB “remains an outlier when compared to all other official statistics on the prevalence of harmful gambling stretching back almost two decades.”
The APMS, in contrast, offers a clinical, methodologically transparent account. Its true value lies not in prevalence comparisons, but in its analysis of comorbidity: the strong and consistent overlap between problem gambling and psychiatric disorders.
Mental Health applies across all data
Problem gambling in the APMS is revealed to be tightly interwoven with mental ill-health. Adults identified as problem gamblers were substantially more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and suicidal thoughts or behaviours. They were also more likely to experience problem debt, unemployment, domestic violence, or trauma.
“Problem gambling, although rare, is consistently associated with a greater burden of psychological, financial and social distress,” the report concludes.
The survey also shows that problem gamblers are more likely to be receiving counselling or psychiatric medication, suggesting that they are already visible within the health system—but perhaps not always recognised through the lens of gambling-related harm.
Sharper focus on shrinking base…
Interestingly, the APMS also finds that gambling participation in the UK is declining. In 2023/24, only 43% of adults reported gambling in the previous year—down from 66% in 2007. While public discourse often implies a growing epidemic, these figures point to a contraction of gambling participation, not its expansion.
This long-term trend undermines claims of gambling “normalisation.”
The implication is not that gambling has ceased to pose a public health risk. Rather, as fewer people gamble, harm may become more concentrated among a smaller, more vulnerable population—often overlapping with those already experiencing mental health challenges.
Framing the evidence
Much of the friction between APMS and GSGB findings can be explained by methodology. The APMS relies on face-to-face household interviews and clinically validated tools, providing a more stable basis for tracking trends over time.
The GSGB, by contrast, uses online self-completed questionnaires, which are cheaper to run but more prone to response bias. That does not invalidate either approach—but it does caution against treating all figures as equally reliable.
Problem Gambling Prevalence: APMS vs GSGB vs HSE (2018)
A comparative graphic that illustrates how survey design can shape outcomes.
Policy must be grounded in evidence
The APMS issues a stern warning: problem gambling is a mental health concern first, and a regulatory issue second. On that basis, it points—indirectly but firmly—to two policy priorities:
Mainstream gambling screening in mental health services
Practitioners in NHS mental health and primary care should routinely assess for gambling harm—particularly among patients presenting with depression, anxiety, trauma, or financial distress.
Focus interventions on high-risk groups
Public health strategies should prioritise the small subset of individuals at highest risk, rather than applying generalised restrictions. This includes tailoring support across healthcare, addiction services, and financial counselling.
The APMS confirms that problem gambling is not a widespread epidemic, but for a narrow group of individuals, it is profoundly damaging. Recognising this comorbidity with mental illness is the first step toward targeted, effective policy. As the availability of rigorous national surveys shrinks, the clarity offered by this one should not be wasted.