UK Upgrades Risk Gambling Data Collection. Where is India?

Global responsible gambling (RG) knowledge is rapidly expanding with the help of science. Government and industry partnerships with academia around the world, like the three-year study on loot boxes by two British universities and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) or the LeoVegas-Karolinska Institutet initiative, are producing valuable insights into gambling behavior, the workings of addictions and other associated risks, and the possible ways to detect, prevent, and treat gambling problems.

Responsible online casino & sportsbook operators like Kindred Group have started sharing internal statistics on risk gambling and intervention success rates. The company has been expanding its user base; nevertheless, the income share from risk gamblers has been shrinking.

All this knowledge is used to develop better methods for improving the behavior of vulnerable players and, most importantly, to find such individuals and offer them protection, which is just impossible on an unregulated or black market.

India, too, has initiated a government-academia partnership in an attempt to gain insights on how to protect the growing multitudes of Indian internet and online gaming consumers.

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bengaluru (NIMHANS) announced their cooperation at the beginning of this year to establish a knowledge base for forming an adequate consumer protection and RG policy.

The UK Gambling Commission Boasts New Survey Methodology

The British Gambling Commission (UKGC), one of the world’s frontrunners in the science of responsible gambling, recently published its first annual report based on the new Gambling Survey for Great Britain, “which is set to become one of the largest in the world and establish a new baseline for understanding gambling behaviour in Britain.”

The survey, commissioned by the UKGC and produced by the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Glasgow, uses a brand-new methodology designed to ensure “greater insight into attitudes and gambling behaviours – presenting a fuller picture, illuminating participation rates, the type of gambling activities participated in, experiences and reasons for gambling, and the consequences that gambling can have on individuals and others close to them.”

The new methodology makes it impractical, or even impossible, to compare findings from previous years to the present data and assess trends, but the report will serve as a new baseline for evaluating future changes. For the first year, 9804 participants were questioned, but the survey base will expand to 20,000 individuals per year.

“One of our aims as a regulator is to ensure we gather the best possible evidence on gambling – and today’s publication is the next significant step forward in our journey on creating a robust source of evidence for gambling in Great Britain,” Tom Miller, research and Policy Executive Director, stated.

“The new design of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain will significantly enhance the evidence base on patterns and trends in gambling behaviour. With an annual sample size of 20,000 individual interviews across the nations and regions of Great Britain, the survey will provide researchers and policy makers with fine-grained and timely data across a broad range of key indicators.” Professor Patrick Sturgis from the London School of Economics said.

What Picture Did the First Annual Gambling Survey Paint

Of the 9804 adult individuals sampled by the UKGC Annual Survey for Year I – 2023, 48% participated in a form of gambling in the last four weeks. If lottery draws were excluded, gambling participation was 27%. Male participation was more likely (52%) than female (44%).

When asked about their most recent gambling experience, 41 percent of adults who had gambled in the last year rated it positively, while 21 percent felt negatively, and 37 percent remained neutral. The top reasons for gambling were the potential to win big (86 percent), the enjoyment of the activity (70 percent), the desire to make money (58 percent), and the excitement it brought (55 percent).

Men and younger adults aged 18 to 34 were more likely to have higher Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores. The likelihood of having a PGSI score of 8 or more was over nine times higher for those who bet on non-sports events in person and more than six times higher for those who played online Slots compared to all gamblers over the past year.

Gaming Addictions Mentioned in Indian Parliament

For comparison, the type of data on problem gambling that Indian policy-makers have at their disposal was clearly illustrated during the Parliament’s Zero Hour on Friday, the 9th of August, 2024.

Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan, Maharashtra, Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde, used the occasion to draw the House’s attention to the growing proliferation of online games and apps, including real money games. This situation has caused addictions in a number of young Indians, and around 3.5% of the country’s population is suffering from gaming disorders, Shinde told the MPs and pointed out that some families have even been brought into financial trouble.

“There is an issue of online gaming addiction in India, especially in case of games like Junglee Rummy. It is important to analyse these trends, because not only does it impact the youth, but also leaving a deep imprint at different levels of the society,” the Kalyan MP said.

India needs to increase awareness about the risks associated with gaming online and adopt robust legislation around it, Dr. Shrikant Shinde urged.

The researchers at NIMHANS have a lot of work on their plate until they are able to provide a detailed and layered picture of the problem like the UKGC so that Indian governmental and nongovernmental organizations can exert a positive impact and continuously improve their knowledge and intervention methods.