A new study by the Gambling Commission has found gamblers in the United Kingdom don’t trust support tools offered by bookmakers.
A report titled ‘qualitative research on the consequences of gambling’ was published by the government agency on May 8 and featured participants who had suffered severe consequences from their own gambling over the last year.
It was commissioned by the National Centre for Social Research and assessed preventing and reducing the harmful consequences of gambling – finding that punters stumbled across a number of barriers when accessing support measures.
Those who took part in the study reported a complete mistrust in the support tools provided by operators, describing it simply as a ‘PR exercise’ due to their business interest in more people gambling and spending.
UK Gambler Doesn’t Trust Support Tools: “They Know The Participant Will Carry On”
A male participant said: “I don’t trust a lot of these so-called tools. I think indirectly they probably know that the actual participant will carry on doing it or even put some more funds into the gambling.”
The report detailed scepticism over the tools and questioned their effectiveness – but some actually found that they directly impacted their gambling activity on mobile betting apps such as deposit and time limits.
Most of the respondents agreed that gambling had negative financial consequences on their lives, leading to reduced spending on food or utility bills alongside a lack in social engagements due to funds lost.
Plenty also believed gambling had caused them to become distracted at work or study, with one revealing they had lost their home and another their job.
The study found that the negative effects of gambling addiction could strike at any point during a person’s betting journey, whether it be nearly immediately or decades in.
Some participants expressed positive experiences from gambling, expressing the thrill of winning money and arguing that it made sporting events more enjoyable.
The Gambling Commission recommended that building full trust in support options with UK online casinos is a key move that needs to happen going forward and it needs to be both targeted and flexible.
Joe Lyons is a betting industry writer for GamblingIndustryNews with years of experience on reputable sports and gambling websites. Joe has also been published by Nottingham Forest, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of sports including soccer, basketball, horse racing and American football. Joe specialises in long form content alongside news, tips and betting.
