Title:

The Gambling Problem

Publish Date:

January 2011

ISBN:

978 1 86168 575 9

Covering Ages:

16 to 18 years

Issue Description

Buying a lottery ticket or having a 'flutter' at the races is considered harmless by most people in the UK. But when does social gambling become problem gambling? Some frequent gamblers become dependent on the sensations they experience while betting in a similar way to those who abuse substances. This book examines social gambling trends, and also looks at the effects of compulsive gambling, how it can begin and how it can best be tackled.

The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper articles, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.

Price:

£7.95

Quantity:

Key Facts

• When thinking about gambling it is important to recognise that uncontrolled gambling causes more than just financial harm. It may also negatively affect other aspects of a gambler’s life. (page 2)
  
  
• Over the year to September 2010 (that is, an average of figures for December 2009, March 2010, June 2010 and September 2010), 54.3% of 7,000 adults surveyed said they had participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous four weeks.(page 3)
  
  
• Gambling via a computer, laptop or handheld device was the most popular form of remote gambling
  (9.5% of all respondents), followed by gambling via mobile phone (2.7%) and interactive/digital TV (1.4%). (page 4)
  
  
• People between the ages of 16 and 24 are four times more likely to develop a gambling problem than any other age group. (page 6)
  
  
• 2% of adolescents – 60,000 12- to 15-year-olds – are problem gamblers. Yet only 5% of parents would stop their child from gambling. (page 11)
  
  
• The cause of a gambling problem is the individual’s inability to control the gambling. This may be due in part to a person’s genetic tendency to develop addiction, their ability to cope with normal life stress and even their social upbringing and moral attitudes towards gambling. (page 19)
  
  
• UK research shows that a very small percentage of people who gamble recreationally go on to develop a problem or are adversely affected by it. (page 21)
  
  
• Evidence indicates that the number of women with gambling problems has doubled in recent years, and they now make up a quarter of addicts, although when it comes to online gambling the proportion is thought to be far higher. (page 35)

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Gambling Trends

Understanding gambling, Gambling participation, What is gambling?, FAQ: gambling and you, Why a healthy brain is no good for gambling, Gambling on the up, say Sportingbet.

Chapter 2 Young People and Gambling

Youth gambling and problem gambling, Kids speak out about gambling, GamCare targets teen gambling, Children, the National Lottery and gambling 2008–09, Young people and problem gambling, Adolescent gambling on the Internet.

Chapter 3 Problem Gambling

FAQ: problem gamblers, Problem gambling – ‘the hidden addiction’, Problem gambling, Britain’s binge-gambling problem, Drug treatments for adolescents with gambling problems?, Internet poker ruined my life, Gambling addiction linked to genes, Situating problem gambling: the social context of ‘gambling careers’, Gamblers in debt need better education and joined-up help, Britain’s new addicts: women who gamble online, at home and in secret, Study indicates gambling problems linked to mental disorders, Gambling addict sues casino for losses, Four kinds of compulsive gamblers identified.

Key Facts

Glossary

Index

Acknowledgements

Assignments

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