Key points:
- Certain gambling activities linked with a higher PGSI score
- Other activities’ association with problem gambling is not present when wider factors are taken into account
The Gambling Commission has published a report today looking into the relationship between gambling activities and Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores.
This report has been compiled based on findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and shows that there is a link between certain gambling activities and the experience of problem gambling.
What this is based upon is having a PGSI score of 8 or more, which represents problem gambling, and that some gambling activities are associated with this, not taking into account other factors such as a person's wider engagement with gambling or their demographic profile.
These types of gambling activities associated with having a higher risk of experiencing problem gambling include casino products, fruit/slot games, betting on non-sporting events, betting on sports /racing in person, and gambling on non-National Lottery online instant wins and scratchcards.
With this, the data shows that other gambling activities and their link with problem gambling is not present when wider gambling engagement and other factors are taken into account.
While these activities such as charity lotteries, National Lottery scratchcards and online instant win games, betting on sports and racing online, football pools, and bingo may still include people experiencing problem gambling, the report suggests that these activities are not associated with higher PGSI scores.
Good to know: The Gambling Commission published the first GSGB last summer
In a blog post on the Gambling Commission website, the regulator’s Head of Statistics Helen Bryce wrote: “In summary we found that gambling involvement, measured by the number of activities and frequency of gambling, remain important predictors of the experience of problem gambling alongside engagement in specific activities.
“The findings from this short report do not change our assessment of the gambling landscape that we shared with DCMS as part of our input to the Gambling Act Review – but instead it builds on our existing understanding and provides further perspectives to add to our existing evidence base, which takes into consideration a broad range of evidence from different sources.”
The Gambling Commission last week published data based on findings from the GSGB looking into the reasons why people gamble and how these motivations align with different gambling activities.
