New Study Shows People from Poor UK Areas More Likely to be High-risk Online Gamblers

According to a new study conducted by the researchers of the University of Liverpool and the National Centre for Social Research, people in deprived areas are more likely to use online casinos and place risky long-odds bets.

The study also found that gambling firms make the vast majority of their money from the 5% of accounts that rack up the biggest losses. The firms make at least 70% of their revenues from the biggest losers.

In sports betting, that proportion rises to 86%, with people in deprived areas more likely to go for longer-odds wagers with a lower prospect of success.

Nine out of ten online casino accounts either won money or lost less than £500 over the course of a year, but 164,000 lost more than £500 during a single session of play, and 47,000 people lost more than £5000 in a year.

This group was disproportionately likely to come from deprived areas and to have lost their money on virtual slot machines, which carry a higher rate of addiction than most other gambling products.

Slots accounted for more than half of losses above £5000 and 70% of sessions where someone played for three hours without a break.

“This all reaffirms my thoughts that those most vulnerable are groomed and exploited by an industry entirely motivated by profit,” said the Labour MP Carolyn Harris, who chairs a cross-party group advocating gambling reform.

“We saw it with the clustering of bookies in deprived areas, when the FOBTs were a huge money-maker,” she said. “We are seeing it now with online. How can we trust this industry to self-regulate when they have repeatedly shown themselves to be predatory and merciless in their pursuit of profit?”

“This confirms what we have known for a long time, that the vast majority of online gambling profits are coming from people losing more than they can afford. Affordability checks introduced for losses equivalent to £100 a month would apply to fewer than 5% of gamblers,” Matt Zarb-Cousin of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling said.

The Betting & Gaming Council said gambling firms had improved controls since the study was undertaken. “There is growing evidence that recent improvements in standards are now starting to have an impact,” it said.