In the 2005 Gambling Act, gambling is defined as gaming, betting and participating in a lottery.
Harmful gambling is defined as any type of repetitive gambling that disrupts or damages personal, family or recreational pursuits. (Local Government Association, 2018)
Gambling can have significant impacts on aspects of one’s life such as:
Harms can be experienced not just by gamblers themselves. They can also affect their children, partners, wider families and social networks, employers, communities and society as a whole. (Gambling Commission, 2020)
In 2018, 24.5 million people in England gambled (54% of the adult population, or 40% when you exclude the National Lottery). The most common type of gambling across all age groups, is the National Lottery except among younger people where scratch cards are more common. Men are more likely to gamble than women, and this difference is most obvious for online gambling where 15% of men participate, compared to 4% of women.
Based on 2018 data, it was estimated that 0.5% of the population (approximately 400,000 people) reached the threshold to be considered problem gamblers and 3.8% (approximately 2 million people) of the adult population were found to be gambling at levels of elevated risk (Public Health England, 2021). In the Midlands, this equates to approximately 414,000 people participating in some level of harmful gambling, and up to 4.1 million people will be indirectly affected by a person’s gambling (OHID, 2022).
Problematic gambling is more prevalent in areas of greater deprivation, among those who are unemployed; younger males, and in Asian and Asian British groups. The Midlands has higher levels of deprivation, higher rates of unemployment, and slightly higher prevalence of younger males compared to England. In Nottinghamshire it is estimated that the highest levels of non-problem gamblers are in Rushcliffe and problem gamblers are highest in Mansfield and Ashfield (OHID, 2022).
Below you can find a range of national and local information relating to gambling: