Those in Poorer Areas of the UK Are Higher-Risk Gamblers

Those in Poorer Areas of the UK Are Higher-Risk Gamblers

A new study has found that people in the poorer areas of the UK are more likely to play games at online casinos and place riskier and higher-value bets. The survey also found that betting companies made the vast majority of their income from the 5% of accounts accumulating the biggest losses.

Study Shows Where Gambling Companies Make Their Money

The research was carried out by people at the University of Liverpool and the National Centre for Social Research. It found that almost three-quarters of a gambling website’s revenue came from a few big losers, despite the majority of gambling accounts showing only modest losses.

Regarding those betting on sports, this time, a bigger figure of 86% is attached to the amount of revenue gained from just a few big losers. This number is attached to the study on those betting from poorer areas, who it seems are much more likely to bet on longer-odds bets and take a risk with a lower statistical chance of winning.

Those in seemingly deprived areas were also found to be more likely to bet and lose on online casino games, with these games also leading to more frequent play.

Around 90% of online casino account holders either won or lost £500 or less during the year, though more than 160,000 were reported to have lost more than that amount in a single session. Almost 50,000 in the survey had lost over £5,000 in one year.

The group belonging to poorer areas was much more likely to have lost cash on virtual slot machines, which, while remaining fair given that they use random number generators, come with a notable higher risk of addiction attached than other gambling mediums.

Slots were responsible for more than half of all losses listed as being more than £5,000.

About 75% of slot players had played on games more than 30 times in one minute at some point in their play, though the maximum spin rate is soon to be reduced to 24 times per minute.

Restrictions Could Restrict Gambler’s Freedoms

Outspoken Labour MP Carolyn Harris has said that this study confirms her thoughts that the gambling industry “grooms and exploits vulnerable people for profit”.

Harris points out the clustering of bookmaking shops in deprived areas, there the FOBT’s are a huge money-maker. She also says that the industry can self-regulate but can’t be trusted to do so, as they are “predatory and merciless in their pursuit of profit”.

Those campaigning for affordability checks across the board while the government reviews the Gambling Act think doing so will not restrict people’s freedoms; however, there has been a wholesale grouping of all gambling activities and enthusiasts.

As pointed out by Harris herself, bookmakers are placed in certain areas during the digital age because addicts and potential addicts want to spin the FOBT’s. This is always bad news.

People are targeted with offers and promotions to play slot machine and table games online, requiring no skill and only luck.

Restricting them harm these things can do is only right, but it is never the full story. Affordability checks indeed ARE an affront to people’s privacy, if not their freedom.

Some people can afford to lose hundreds of pounds and should not be subject to the same suggest gambling loss limits of £100 per month in future.

Those betting on poker, horse racing, football and other sports use skill and technique and are not gambling addicts, yet are thrown in with those who are.

In a time when the government is attempting to pass a bill that will basically take away the right to protest, it doesn’t sit right that people without any problems are lumped into the generalised “gambling” category and may subject to limits on how they spend their own money, and to checks on where their money comes from.

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