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Read Full BioA new survey commissioned by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care has heightened concerns that gambling harm in the UK is no longer a question of regulation, but a high-priority mental health matter.
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) – published in June – has helped to establish a traceable link between problem gambling and bettors who suffer from mental health issues.
However, the APMS results also determined that only 0.3% of the adult population in England would be deemed as a problem gambler under current clinical definitions.
This is a markedly lower rate than the 2.5% suggested by the UK Gambling Commission’s 2023 Gambling Survey for Great Britain.
Nevertheless, this statistic still indicates that for a small subset of bettors, gambling causes severe psychiatric, financial, and social fallout.
Here, the survey results concluded that adults suffering from gambling problems are far more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and, in extreme cases, suicidal ideations.
In addition to this, these individuals are also disproportionately affected by unemployment, mounting personal debts, and incidents of domestic violence.
Gambling in Decline, But Still Deeply Concentrated
Problem gamblers, while only making up a small portion of the population, are also more likely to already be receiving psychiatric medication or therapy.
Yet, the symptoms of gambling harm often remain underdiagnosed, masked, and categorised as more conventional mental health symptoms.
A recent BBC investigation also revealed that Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) in the UK are failing to protect problem gamblers.
In it, it accused AGCs of continuing to display high-risk slot machines despite their links to poor mental health concerns among players.
A key differential in the APMS’s methodology, in comparison to the Gambling Commission’s online self-report approach, is that it conducts its questioning through face-to-face interviews with the aid of validated psychiatric tools.
Due to the differing formats between the two, the release of the APMS survey has sparked an industry-wide debate about the reliability of gambling prevalence figures.
Critics argue that the study should be a more insightful starting point for helping to shape public policy on the issue.
Most notable of these assertions is the APMS’s calculation that gambling participation in the UK has, in fact, declined steeply, dropping from 66% in 2007 to just 43% in 2023/24.
This contrasts with the frequent headlines that warn of a gambling “epidemic,” when the data suggest it is receding, albeit still concentrated within a vulnerable minority.
Statutory Gambling Levy to Provide Investment in Problem Gambling
The UK government has already announced its intention to introduce a statutory gambling levy.
As of April, UK licensed operators now contribute between 0.1% and 1.1% of their gross gambling yield.
The levies raised in this initiative will directly support NHS treatment and research into the harms caused by gambling.
Despite this, the APMS also went on to warn that there is an urgent need to target intervention and routine screening at dedicated mental health services, rather than simply issuing generalised restrictions.
It stated that policies must acknowledge problem gambling as part of a broader pattern of psychiatric comorbidity, not as an isolated behavioral issue.
