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GambleAware publishes interim research findings

UK gambling charity GambleAware has published its ‘interim research’ findings, which were carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). 

The research looked at gambling habits for more than 140,000 active gambling accounts in the UK. 

NatCen conducted the GambleAware-commissioned research between July 2018 and June 2019.

Key findings 

The aim of the research was to give stakeholders within the gambling industry more of a detailed understanding when it comes to consumers’ behaviours and habits. 

Seven online betting sites were used to gather the research. 

According to the findings, most gambling accounts weren’t used on a regular basis. Moreover, spend throughout the 12 months was generally low. 

The research mentioned that: “85% of accounts used for betting spent less than £200 on betting over the year between July 2018 and June 2019, while 90% of ‘gaming’ accounts had either an overall win or loss of less than £500 for the same period.”

Large contrasts 

NatCen collaborated with Ian McHale and David Forrest, Professors at the University of Liverpool, for the research. 

While general spend was low, the research found large differences between spend and habits of infrequent players and those who bet more often and lost large amounts of money. 

According to the findings, 0.7% of accounts used for sports betting lost £5,000 and above throughout the research period. The same was true for 1.2% of accounts used for online casino gaming. 

0.1% of all accounts lost more than £20,000. 0.2% lost between £10,000 and £19,999, and 0.4% of consumers parted with between £5,000 and £9,999. 

There were also large disparities when it came to the accounts that generated the most revenue for operators. NatCen found that 70% of gross gambling yield (GGY) was generated by 5% of online accounts that lost the most money within slots, live casinos, betting and virtual casinos.

Deposit limits more popular than self-exclusion 

Of the accounts monitored during this period, 22% of users added deposit limits to their accounts. Self-exclusion was nowhere near as popular, with only 2.3% of individuals making use of this feature. 

The research also found that late-night sessions were more damaging for users’ accounts. Across all casino verticals, playing late at night resulted in higher spending intensity when it came to average losses per minute. 

Dr. Sokratis Dinos, who works for NatCen, commented on the findings. He said: “This research was able to analyse and assess an unprecedented source of information on how people in Great Britain gamble and opens up numerous opportunities to further understand people’s gambling habits.  

“These interim findings are just the first stage and future research will provide a greater opportunity to understand the risk factors associated with gambling behaviour.”

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