UK cost of living crisis leading people to gambling, says charity
People are turning to gambling to help them with the cost of living crisis – from trying to win money to pay bills to using betting shops as warm banks, a gambling charity has said.
The charity GamCare said that while this was likely to exacerbate financial stresses, research found four in 10 (42%) problem gamblers believed gambling would improve their financial situation in the next year compared with just 7% of UK adults.
The YouGov survey of 4,202 adults commissioned by the charity also found that one in six people gambling at harmful levels had used a warm bank in the past 12 months compared with 5% of the general population, while half of parents who are problem gamblers were going without food or clean clothes to support children, compared with 20% of parents overall.
GamCare said January 2023 was the month with its highest ever call volumes, with advisers regularly hearing reports of how the rising cost of living is affecting callers. That included people who have been spending time in betting shops to keep warm and people on universal credit and disability benefits gambling to make extra money to cover their bills.
Anna Hemmings, the chief executive officer at GamCare, said the challenges of the cost of living crisis were “particularly acute” for gambling addicts.
“At GamCare, we know first-hand that gambling isn’t a way to ease money worries, as well as how important it is to address the financial picture to support someone’s longer-term recovery from harm,” she said, adding that the charity was launching a new financial advice service.
The survey also showed that problem gamblers were seven times more likely than the rest of the UK population to say they would gamble more in the next 12 months as a result of the cost
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