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UK's GamCare Focuses on Problem Gaming – Traditional and Internet (Part 2)
29 January 2001
From the March 2001 issue of Internet Gaming International.
With the advent and rapid growth of Internet gaming, the United Kingdom's GamCare is working with a small number of online companies in the development of a socially responsible site. Among the issues that GamCare foresees as raising concern are:
Underage gambling --- how can one be sure that adolescents do not have access to Internet gambling by using a parent's credit card?
Gambling while intoxicated --- How can one be sure that a person does not have access to Internet gambling while they are under the influence of alcohol?
Internet gambling in the workplace --- An increasing number of employers have unlimited access to the Internet for their employees. Like telephone betting, Internet gambling is a somewhat solitary activity that can happen without the knowledge of both management and co-workers.
Opening hours --- The Internet never closes, so it is possible to gamble all day, every day.
Electronic cash --- It is very likely that the psychological value of electronic cash (similar to the use of chips or tokens in other gambling situations) will be less than real cash.
Trust --- How can a gambler be sure that operators in other countries will honor wagers made?
Believing that the majority of online players would prefer to gamble through a
company that they can trust, GamCare thinks it will be important when Internet gambling is brought under British jurisdiction that they be attractive enough to encourage online gamblers to use them in preference to off-shore operations whose credentials are not known.
GamCare contends that once sites have been set up to comply with UK regulations and demonstrate their duty of care by operating a socially responsible site, then they should be awarded a kite-mark or seal of approval.
GamCare invites any UK company planning to enter the new technology gaming market to discuss these issues. "Two of the most compelling reasons for this are, firstly, that they should be doing so as a part of company culture and policy and secondly, it is very likely that it will become a statutory requirement to do so before too long," says GamCare's recent newsletter.
Highlights of the British Gambling Prevalence Study Conducted by GamCare
In the last year around 33 million --- that is, 72% of the population aged 16+ --- gambled on one or more activities.
National Lottery products are very much the most popular activity (65% of the population and 90% of past-year gamblers) followed by Scratchcards (22% and 30% respectively), playing gaming machines (14% and 19% ) and betting on the horses (13% and 18%).
More men gamble than women, but the percentages are still quite close at 76% and 68% respectively. Bingo is the only activity at which more women than men participate. All the recognized hard gambling activities have significantly higher participation rates by men.
Most activities were played by all age groups, with the highest participation rate on any activity in the last year being those aged 25-34 and those aged 45-54; both at 78%. The lowest were those aged 75+ at 52%.
Problem gaming in Britain has been contained at a relatively low level. It came out lower than many experts expected and comparatively lower than studies from other countries such as Australia and Spain. It had been anticipated that the prevalence of problem gambling would be between 1-3% of the population. It actually came out at 0.8% (SOGS screen) and 0.6% (DSMIV screen).
Taking into account confidence levels, the number of problem gamblers can be estimated at between 275,000 and 460,000 ad measured by SOGS and between 18,000 and 370,000 as measured by DSMIV. While small, this is a significant percentage of population and in GamCare's opinion should not breed complacency by either the gambling industry or the government.
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