Although there are many types of addiction, gambling addiction is a special kind. This type is not associated with any physical symptoms and is therefore very difficult to detect the problem gambler. Despite its harm to gamblers and their family, it has not received its fair share of university studies and academic surveys.
Perhaps the reason behind this is that many believe that gambling addiction is a “mild” type of addiction, yet the psychological, financial, and social effects of gambling addiction are not at all less than the effects of any other addiction.
To date, research studies on problem gambling are still very sketchy and do not address the real causes behind it. Thus, it is difficult for regulators to help compulsive gamblers and take effective measures to help them.
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Table of contents
The main reason why studies on gambling addiction are inaccurate is that compulsive gamblers do not like to participate in them!
They tend to hide their gambling behavior from anyone or any party because talking about it causes them psychological pain, embarrassment, and self-remorse, or perhaps because gambling led them to commit theft crimes and they are trying to hide them.
In this article, we will discuss the most prominent percentages. And statistics related to compulsive gambling. Learn about the most important methods that gambling sites can use to reduce the phenomenon of compulsive gambling.
How Many Problem gamblers Are in the UK?
In 2022, GambleAware published a study that stated that the number of gamblers in the UK reached 2.7% (1.8 million people). However, in a study several years earlier, the percentage of problem gamblers in the UK was only 0.7%!
The study covered 5 million people out of 63 million Britons. However, the number of gambling addicts is likely to be much higher considering that only 3.36% of the British population were included in the study.
Nevertheless, the number of problem gamblers in the UK is likely to be much higher and problem gamblers are known to dislike participating in surveys and research related to gambling addiction.
Regulatory Measures’ Effect on Gambling Addiction
In fact, the role of regulators is very limited in effectiveness as they can do nothing about the problem of gambling addiction other than “aggressive policies”.
On the other hand, bans are a thing of the past as online gamblers can access gambling games and sports betting services freely from any time and anywhere. For example, when the UKGC required all gambling sites to integrate GamStop, problem gamblers quickly resort to offshore casinos
Casinos Have a Major Role to Play in Solving Problem Gamblers!
In fact, the only entity that can reduce or increase problem gambling is the casinos.
It is very easy for gambling sites to incorporate algorithms to detect and track addicts. For example, it is possible to identify a playing addict if he uses more than one payment method. Deposits, plays at unfamiliar times, or places larger bets after each loss to recover his losses. However, most online casinos do not implement these measures. And even if the regulators force the online casinos to apply them, they may apply them incorrectly. As they may ban the most profitable players but not the addicted players.
According to a Harvard University study, between 25 to 50% of online casino revenue comes primarily from problem gamblers. Certainly, no online casino can easily compromise this category.
