The results of the latest quarterly survey on remote gambling have been published by the UK Gambling Commission. Figures are for the year to June 2008 and show the number of adults that said they had participated in at least one form of remote gambling in the previous month has remained constant at 8.8%, the same as in 2007. In the 2006 calendar year the figure was 7.2%. If those playing only the National Lottery are not counted, then just 5% of respondents had gambled on computer, mobile phone or interactive/digital television.

The number of 18-24 year olds participating in some form of remote gambling fell from 14.1%14.1% in 2007 to 11.7% in the year to June 2008. A reverse trend was evident for 25-34 year olds, where the figure for 2007 was 13.1% and rose to 14.6%. The National Lottery is the type of gambling activity most frequently played by remote means (6.2%), followed by sports betting (2.2%) and poker rooms/tournaments (1.4%). There was little change from the previous year.

At the end of July the Gambling Commission wrote to the Minister for Sport about plans for research into the impact of high-stake, high-prize gaming machines on problem gamblers. This was in answer to the Ministry’s request last March for the Gambling Commission to identify what further research into the matter could be undertaken. Category B2 machines in casinos and betting shops, category 3 machines in amusement arcades and betting shops, and category B3A machines in non-commercial clubs will be included in the research.

The Commission proposes some immediate qualitative work using contacts made in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007, looking at specific gaming machine features; re-analysis of that data and other studies in the light of recent research findings; the establishment of an international panel of experts to help develop gaming machine regulation to minimise harm; and, subject to funding, the extension of this work to study a larger number of regular gamblers. (E-08.11.08)

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