Last Friday the UK Gambling Commission published the findings of a secondary analysis of the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The analysis was undertaken by a team led by Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams, Director of the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. Many of the findings were the same as the original survey but the analysis did throw further light on problem gambling behaviour.

The analysis explored the 2007 data using sophisticated statistical techniques to learn more about gambling participation, problem gambling and gambling behaviour among young people. On the subject of problem gambling the inferential analysis found that individuals who are male, single, have lower qualifications, lower incomes and whose parents have gambled were more likely to exhibit signs of problem gambling. However, while wealthier individuals are more likely to participate in a larger number of activities they are less likely to exhibit signs of problem gambling.

The results of the first report on BGPS 2007 tended to suggest, in the absence of a consideration of frequency, that a higher level of problem gambling is linked with spread betting, FOBTs and betting exchanges. The latest analysis essentially provides a check of that result on gambling participation using a technique which is more robust to small observations and a large number of covariates. What is important here is that the ranking is not the same, which should be interpreted as inviting caution about the order of activities found in the 2007 prevalence survey rather than as suggesting an alternative ranking.

On gambling behaviour and young people it was found that the limited number of respondents to the survey, just 245 under 18, meant statistical analysis was difficult. Consistent with findings from the general population sample, younger gamblers also tended to be made up of a large group of relatively homogeneous gamblers who gamble across a range of activities, within which exists a smaller subgroup participating in more specific/technical/novel types of gambling like online betting, FOBTs, spread betting and betting exchanges.

The new study suggests that more research is needed on gambling among youth and young adults. In the context of increased television coverage, celebrity endorsement, social introductions to gambling (e.g. poker home games) and the option for some to make money through person-to-person betting, the attraction to gambling may currently be quite strong. Private betting is also a potentially important avenue for future research.

Younger gamblers are more likely than older gamblers to participate in most types of gambling; private betting and gaming machines in particular. There was no gambling activity in which older gamblers were significantly more likely than young gamblers to engage. Younger players tend to prefer to gamble on slot machines or through private betting. One of the most obvious reasons for this particular trend is that these two forms of gambling offer the easiest access for this age group (particularly for the 16-17 age groups where most other forms of gambling are illegal).

The study considers that a less obvious factor in gambling statistics for young people could be that younger individuals could have larger social networks and live with friends rather than family, and such environments often foster private betting in social settings including ‘house games’ of poker, betting on video games and other informal and unconventional gambling forms. Private betting may introduce more individuals to gambling which could in turn lead to an increase in problem gambling or conversely it may actually foster a healthy attitude to gambling and promote the social side of gambling.

The analysis concludes that future research which investigates the nature and impact of private betting generally, and among younger players specifically, could usefully be placed on the agenda or given a higher priority. (E-10.20.08)

© Copyright 2008 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage