Students in Glasgow schools expect to be educated on the potential harms of gambling. The new initiative, part of an effort to stress that such problems are a public health issue, evolved as city council held a summit on how to address problem gambling, according to The National.
Glasgow has the distinction as being home to more betting shops than anywhere else in the U.K., with one for every 3,264 people, according to a recent report by the University of Bristol.
The increase in online gambling, accentuated during the Covid-19 lockdowns, has contributed to concerns about gambling harms.
“Right now, there is a program being developed, a pilot research study in some Glasgow schools, looking at early intervention and education of young people to understand the harms that can be caused by gambling,” said Bailie Annette Christie, convener for wellbeing, empowerment, community and citizen engagement at Glasgow City Council’s policy development committee.
The education curriculum is still in its infancy with research in secondary schools by the University of Edinburgh before its rolled out.
“Obviously during lockdown, bookmakers and other retail outlets were closed, so that avenue for exposure had been taken away. But online just exploded. It had been growing and changing for many years and the demographics of those impacted by gambling harms had changed,” Christie said.
Anyone can be affected by gambling harms no matter the age or gender, she said. Dr. Heather Wardle, of Glasgow University, said the issue failed to get the recognition it deserved.
“I have worked in the field for a very long time now and it is only just recently this idea that we should treat it as a public health issue, which we have been arguing for years and years, is starting to gain some traction,” she said. “The harms that emanate from gambling have a whole range of repercussions for the individual, but also for their families, the communities and for society more broadly.”
The most recent statistics from the Scottish Health Survey in 2017 found 0.8 percent of respondents identified as problem gamblers and 0.9 percent were at “moderate risk” of developing problems.
“What those figures are not measuring is the broader range of harms that people experience,” Wardle said.
The gambling industry is worth around £14 billion every year in the U.K.
