children ’ s games and so on . Is this something most parents are even aware of ? ‘ I think most parents will be aware that the gaming industry is rapacious in its ability to extract cash from kids ,’ she says . ‘ Anyone who ’ s got children who play games knows that they ’ re constantly coming to you going , “ Can I just have some money to buy this ?” That ’ s the way the gaming industry is now recouping its cash , based on what we call the ‘ freemium ’ model – upselling the purchase of items in the games .’
‘ With alcohol or drugs there are going to be some physical cues that people would be picking up on which you just don ’ t have with gambling ’
What parents are less likely to be aware of – ‘ unless you ’ re actually sitting there playing the games yourself ’ – is the mechanisms that underpin them , she points out . ‘ And I know in the past the government has tried to shift the focus onto parents – that they should be much more involved in policing it themselves . But as a parent myself , you don ’ t always have the time to be constantly looking over their shoulder at what they ’ re doing . I ’ d rather have the responsibility placed on the corporations to not embed these things in products for my kids the first place .’
‘ PROBLEM ’ COHORTS On the question of assigning responsibility , the gambling sector tends to push much the same narrative as the alcohol industry – shifting the focus and responsibility to a small cohort of ‘ problem ’ people . ‘ It ’ s the common theme of corporate practice that runs throughout gambling , alcohol , tobacco , that there ’ s this small percentage of people who are disordered or don ’ t use the products properly , and if you just deal with them everybody else will be fine . Which is fundamentally at odds with the evidence base about how harms are distributed across the spectrums of behaviours . It ’ s big corporations who design and provide these products , and they have to bear responsibility for the consequences of the things they ’ re putting into the market .’ This public narrative of ‘ a disordered few ’ who can ’ t control themselves leads inexorably to the issue of stigma , something that ’ s just as pernicious in the gambling world as the drug and alcohol sector – perhaps even more so . ‘ That narrative layers on the shame ,’ she says . ‘ People think , “ Why can ’ t I just get control of myself ? Everybody else can .” You can see how that builds and people feel ashamed in terms of seeking help , even when there ’ s help available – we don ’ t have long waiting lists for the NHS gambling treatment .’
For most people experiencing gambling harms it ’ s ‘ very , very hidden ,’ she says . ‘ When you talk to people with lived experience , the partners often don ’ t know what ’ s the driver behind the difficulties they ’ re experiencing until it gets to crisis point . Because people who are experiencing that level of difficulty with gambling are very , very good at hiding it and they become very adept at lying to their loved ones . With alcohol or drugs there are going to be some physical cues that people would be picking up on which you just don ’ t have with gambling .’
WOMEN ’ S STIGMA And when it comes to stigma – again as with alcohol and drugs – it ’ s frequently women who are the most affected . While the stereotypical image of a gambler is probably still a man in a bookie ’ s or at a poker table , the ubiquity of online gambling hasn ’ t just made it possible to gamble 24 hours a day , it ’ s also made it far more accessible for women . As with many things , this was then exacerbated during lockdown , with a YouGov
DR HEATHER WARDLE
Dr Heather Wardle is a social scientist with nearly 20 year ’ s experience designing , implementing and analysing some of Britain ’ s largest studies of health and wellbeing , including the Health Survey for England and the British Gambling Prevalence Survey .
She is a specialist in gambling research , policy and practice and is co-director of Gambling Research Glasgow as well as leading the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling . Her research focuses on understanding the impact of gambling on people ’ s lives and devising solutions .
Her book , Games Without Frontiers ?, looks at the inter section between gaming and gambling and how this has developed .
Biography at www . gla . ac . uk / schools / socialpolitical / staff /
poll of almost 10,000 women using the Problem Gambling Severity Index finding that up to 1m women may now be at risk of gambling harm .
‘ If you read a media article about a woman who ’ s experienced gambling harms it ’ s often framed in that kind of abrogation of duty to their family and children ’ she says . ‘ A comparative article for a man would tend to be “ they stole this much money ” or “ they did this to their employers .” It doesn ’ t locate it in the same familial context , though of course the actions of a man will impact on the family just as much . There ’ s also this additional gendered aspect of what is and isn ’ t appropriate female behaviour , which exacerbates the shame that women can feel . And yet we know that many women experience gambling harms , need help , and should get that help – free from judgment and free from stigma .’
CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES So what would she say to those commentators who maintain that the statistics on gambling harm are overblown and not realistic . ‘ I would say that many of the statistics we ’ ve got are actually conservative ,’ she states . ‘ They ’ re not blown out proportion at all , because what our statistics are not doing is measuring the impact on others . And we know that impact is wide reaching and can have hugely detrimental effects on people ’ s health and wellbeing . They ’ re not actually even measuring the full range of experiences and negative consequences that people can have from gambling .’
The most common tool – the Problem Gambling Severity Index – doesn ’ t include gambling ’ s impact on relationships , she points out . ‘ And we know that getting information from marginalised communities is going to be difficult as well , so there are many reasons why these statistics should probably be considered as the most conservative basis , rather than a high-level basis .’
So if she could get the government to enact one piece of legislation , what would it be ? She doesn ’ t hesitate . ‘ Prohibition of the advertising , sponsorship and marketing ,’ she states . DDN
The Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling at https :// www . thelancet . com / journals / lanpub / article / PIIS2468- 2667 ( 24 ) 00167-1 / fulltext
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