In a study released by the UK Gambling Commission, it was revealed that the country’s bettors spent £14.5 billion (US$18 billion) on gambling between October 2017 and September 2018.
The data covers everything from sports bets to gambling to National Lottery tickets and horse racing. Online gaming generated the majority of expenditures followed by sports betting and National Lottery. Online gaming alone accounted for £5.6 billion, or 38.8 percent of the total.
The study showed that men from 25 to 34 are most likely to gamble, with 40 percent having placed a wager at least once in their lives. And estimated 25 percent of the population surveyed by the UKGC bet in the four weeks prior to the interview.
The overall number of gaming shops fell to 8,423, in part because of a recent change in the limits of fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which prompted William Hill, one of the largest companies in the country, to close as estimated 700 shops. Hill said the closures and changes to limits would cost it around £100 million yearly in sales, but concern that financial ruin at the FOBTs may push people to despair or suicide necessitated the move.
Cities argued that the concentration of machines led to “anti-social behavior.” Overall, 1 percent of the population is estimated to be affected, a survey by the NHS National Gambling Clinic argued. Organizations which treat gambling addiction report a steady influx of calls. GamCare took almost 30,000 calls in fiscal year 2018.
According to Gambling with Live Charity member Liz Ritchie, “Serious addiction costs lives.” In fact, there are between 250 and 650 gambling-related suicides in the country every year, with the number of young people taking their lives rising quickly. In other research by the UKGC, 14 percent of adolescents 11 to 16 have gambled at least once in the week leading up to the interview.
