Let’s talk about how current account providers can prevent gambling harm

This safer gambling week, you might find yourself presented with messages about how to gamble safely, set yourself limits, or reminders to take a break from gambling. While messages to gamble safely have their place, let’s pause for a moment and talk about gambling in the UK. 

According to the latest available figures from the Gambling Commission, £15.1 billion was spent on gambling by people in the UK from April 2022 – March 2023. The inaugural Gambling Survey for Great Britain, published earlier this year, found that 2.5% of people surveyed were experiencing problem gambling. Including people at risk of harm from gambling, this figure grows substantially to 14% of those surveyed. This shows that nearly one in seven people surveyed were either at risk of or experiencing problem gambling.

These statistics suggest that too many people are still experiencing gambling harm. One of the most alarming aspects of gambling harm is that it is disproportionate. One previous estimate concluded that the gambling industry makes as much as 60% of its profits from the 5% of people that are classified as experiencing or at risk of problem gambling. 

Despite these statistics, there is still a view in society that gambling is a matter of personal responsibility. But gambling and gambling problems are not a ‘moral failing’. We can all struggle to control our behaviour under different circumstances and at different times in our lives, even without the sophisticated design of gambling products that are faster, more continuous and more instantaneous than ever before. 

Even at low levels, gambling is associated with depression and anxiety, showing that it is not without risks for anyone who partakes. At the far end of this spectrum, the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities tragically estimates there are between 117 and 496 gambling related suicides a year. There is an urgent need for more to be done to address this and to protect people from experiencing gambling related harm in the first place. 

Understanding of gambling related harm has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, thanks in no small part to a dedicated group of campaigners, experts by experience and academics. But this was coming from a slow pace of change, with the NHS only opening its first National Gambling Clinic in 2008.

The moral case for preventing the worst of gambling related harm is clear. And while there are many programmes and initiatives in place to help people get their life back on track and through recovery, earlier interventions are needed to prevent the most serious forms of gambling related harm in the first place. That is very much what we’re hoping to achieve with the Gambling Harms Action Lab.

Here at the Gambling Harms Action Lab we’re working with financial services firms to test new ideas and innovations to proactively support people at risk of or experiencing problem gambling. Our Research Community will play a vital role in helping us develop these tools and interventions through their insight as experts by experience. 

Currently, people’s interactions with their bank when gambling vary depending on who they are banking with. Some banks are doing more to support their customers than others. The roll out of the FCA’s Consumer Duty means that banks must protect consumers, ensure good outcomes and prevent foreseeable harm. 

So, moving beyond the safer gambling messages we’ll see and hear this week, we’re keen to consider what more our current account provider can do to spot if we might be experiencing gambling harms and proactively offer us tools, interventions and support. 

If you want to find out more about the Gambling Harms Action Lab, you can get in touch via email here.

If you have experience of gambling harms and mental health problems, we would love for you to join our Research Community to help shape and inform the findings and recommendations of the Gambling Harms Action Lab.

And if you’re experiencing harms from gambling, there is support available. On our Get Help page there are several organisations and resources that can offer help with gambling.