Prevalence of gambling in Northern Ireland 2024 | Department for Communities
On 30 April, the Department for Communities published the findings of the NI Gambling Prevalence Survey for 2024.
The full report is available here: https://datavis.nisra.gov.uk/communities/prevalence-of-gambling-in-northern-ireland-2024.html#Gambling_advertising
Summary of the key findings:
Prevalence
57% of respondents said they had gambled in the last 12 months, 47% having gambled in-person and 23% online. Tickets for National Lottery draws were the most popular gambling type with 35% of adults having purchased a ticket in the last 12 months. The next most popular types were ‘scratchcards or instant win games’ (18%), ‘betting on any event or sport’ (16%) and ‘tickets for any other lottery’ (13%). A higher proportion of adults living in the most deprived areas had participated in gambling in the last 12 months than those living in the least deprived areas (66% and 56%, respectively).
Problem Gambling
3% of respondents were considered to be “problem gamblers” (having a score of 8 or higher on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a widely used self-report measure of problematic gambling behaviours in the general population). A further 5% were considered to be moderate risk gamblers and 5% were considered to be low risk gamblers. The proportion of people experiencing problem gambling has increased since the last survey in 2016 (2.3%). Based on other recent data from across these islands, NI has a higher rate of problem gambling than in GB (2.5%) but a lower rate of problem gambling than in ROI (3.3%). The report also notes that those who buy scratchcards or participate in sports betting and online gaming were more likely to be considered moderate risk or problem gamblers.
Impacts
Only 1% of people who gamble had sought help, support, or information from Gambling Support Services or Mental Health Services. 3% of people who have been affected by someone else’s gambling had sought these services. 10% of people who have been affected by someone else’s gambling said their relationship with someone close, such as a spouse, partner, family member or friend, had broken down because of gambling.
Attitudes
63% of people have an unfavourable view of gambling in general. 60%+ of all age groups have an unfavourable view of gambling, except for 16-24 year olds, of which only 47% of people have an unfavourable view. However, 75% of moderate risk or problem gamblers have a favourable view of gambling. 76% of people agree with the statement “There are too many opportunities for gambling nowadays”, and 54% said “Gambling should be discouraged”, but just 17% said “It would be better if gambling was banned altogether”. 77% said “People should have the right to gamble whenever they want”.
Advertising
92% of people had seen some form of gambling advertising in the last month. The most common forms of advertising seen were TV ads (79%) and online ads (57%). 65% of adults said “there are too many gambling advertisements”. 71% of those surveyed support a watershed for TV/radio gambling ads. Views on whether gambling advertisements and sponsorship should be banned altogether were split, with 42% agreeing and 36% disagreeing.
