Lucky draw? Mental health, harm from lotteries and what banks can do

The lottery is the most common form of gambling in the UK. 

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain revealed that over a third (33%) of people surveyed had participated in the lottery in the previous four weeks. As a nation, we have a positive attitude towards the lottery, partly because many support good causes, so even if we don’t win, our money goes towards doing good. This may be why lotteries and draw products are often left out of the conversation when it comes to gambling harm. 

Another reason why lotteries and draw products are often left out of the conversation is that you can’t play them continuously. For example, the National Lottery draws twice a week, which means there isn’t the same reason to keep spending continuously. However, this isn’t the case for all lottery products; scratchcards can be purchased and played one after another – the instant win can lead to continued spending, which can quickly get out of hand.  

The National Lottery is now but one in a growing landscape of gambling draw products, with online ‘free’ and prize draws increasing in popularity on social media. Participants enter these draws for free or for a small fee, with the dream of winning valuable prizes, including houses, holidays, cars, and large sums of cash. There are now growing calls to look into and address possible harms across lottery and draw products, particularly for those who experience financial difficulty and mental health problems. 

To add to this growing conversation, we surveyed our Research Community of people with mental health problems, asking about their experience of lotteries, scratchcards, and prize draws.

Lottery products were popular among Research Community respondents, with almost eight in ten having participated in the National Lottery, just under half for scratch cards and online prize draws in the last five years. Between entering and the result of the draw, respondents described a brief moment of relief from the daily stress of their financial difficulties. Almost all Research Community members who participated in the lottery in the last five years, reported doing it in hopes of a better life.

Research Community members reported they spent more than they could afford on lotteries, it made them feel frustrated and depressed. During periods of poor mental health, there was an increased need for a ‘win’ – with over seven in ten respondents reporting buying  scratchcards more frequently during these periods. Even if people weren’t expecting to win, not winning can start a cycle of despair, with just under nine in ten of respondents who participated in lotteries reporting it made them feel downhearted or depressed. 

This can then exacerbate overall financial worries, particularly if people have limited funds in the first place. Just under seven in ten respondents said they spent more than they could afford to on the lottery. Some reported that chasing this dream of winning, led them to try and win to gain back the money they had lost by entering. This ‘chasing losses’ is a spending pattern commonly associated with gambling harm.

Banks can proactively support their customers by paying attention to spending and behavioural patterns in customer transaction data that may indicate harm, and acting to support customers when needed. 

Seven in ten respondents expressed a desire for their bank to help them if they were spending more than they could afford on lottery products. 

Amongst those who were in favour of receiving bank support, more than nine in ten were in favour of banks providing opt-in spending limits for the lottery if they saw they were spending too much. However, when it came to banks noticing people spending too much on scratchcards, more than eight in ten respondents were in favour of their bank temporarily blocking spending on scratchcards.

Lottery products are often left out of the conversations around gambling; it’s clear from our discussion of the experiences of people with mental health problems that there are financial and mental health concerns that need to be addressed. Given their growing popularity, this is an emerging area that banks should consider looking at as a potential harm in customer bank statements. 

We will help firms to improve the support they provide by regularly sharing insights from our Research Community with the seven firms in the Gambling Harms Action Lab to improve support for customers experiencing gambling harm. 

If you want to keep up with the work of the Gambling Harms Action Lab, you can check out our webpage here, join our Research Community of people with lived experience of mental health problems, or join our Professional Network here.