UK: Study Examines the Impact of the Gambling Credit Card Ban

Several years ago, in April 2020, the United Kingdom became the first country to implement a complete ban on the use of credit cards for online and retail gambling. More than four years after the implementation of the ban, new research probed into the impact of the measure, how it affected gamblers and whether or not some consumers changed their behavior in light of the ban.

A report on the evaluation of the credit card ban in the UK was released Thursday by the National Center for Social Research. The evaluation of the credit card ban outlined strategic objectives, including determining the degree to which the ban was implemented, its impact on consumer behavior and other important factors that measured its effectiveness.

Focusing on the perception of the ban, the recently released report confirmed that it was “perceived to be a positive change by key stakeholders (people who gamble, affected others, support providers) overall.” Importantly, people who engaged in gambling activities admitted to understanding why the measure was needed.

The Ban Wasn’t Comprehensive Enough, Didn’t Change the Behavior of Some Gamblers
Despite being perceived as an overall positive change, providers of support services acknowledged that “the ban was not comprehensive enough as it did not address other types of borrowed money.” While gambling operators considered that a risk-based approach would have been a better solution, charities and organizations providing support for people affected by at-risk gambling warned that problem gamblers may “turn to other sources of borrowed money which will make it difficult for affected others to monitor the spending of those who gamble.”

Notably, the evaluation uncovered that the increased friction did not always change the consumers’ gambling patterns. This means that after the ban, the people who admitted to gambling and borrowing money didn’t stop doing so.

Awareness of the Ban Is Highest among Risk Groups
When it comes to awareness of the ban on credit card gambling, the National Center For Social Research’s white paper explained that 57% of the people at moderate risk of gambling or ones at high risk of gambling were more likely to be aware of the restriction.

In contrast, only 29% of the people who experienced low levels of problem gambling were aware. A similar percentage of 23% of the surveyed individuals who admitted to having no gambling problems said they knew about the ban on credit cards for gambling. Approximately 11% of the non-gamblers said they were informed about the credit card gambling ban.

Per the recent evaluation, the consumers were notified about the ban on gambling with credit cards through different channels with the list including social media, pop-up messages and emails sent by gambling providers. Despite the wide variety of channels used to inform the population, some responders considered that more precise targeting could have been used.

Recently, a separate study conducted by the National Center for Social Research for GambleAware uncovered that marginalized communities use gambling as a method to cope with social exclusion. Although such communities included a diverse range of groups, gambling was found to be a common method to deal with many issues, including discrimination, mental health issues and loneliness, among others.