NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines are recommendations for health care in England and Wales, derived from rigorous analysis of available scientific evidence. They help health and social care professionals to prevent ill health, promote good health and improve the quality of care and services. NICE guidelines are very important in the UK healthcare system in helping to ensure that patients receive the best possible care and they are widely respected and considered a key reference point when making clinical decisions.
On 28 January 2025, NICE published an updated report which stated that in England there has been an increase to approximately 1.6 million people who are gambling and who may benefit from some form of gambling addiction treatment to help their addiction or dependency.
Gambling addiction has increased significantly over the last five years due to a number of issues that have been allowed to develop completely unchecked and without recognition of the harm they are causing. These are
- Online gambling is available 24/7 for 365 days a year, allowing for frequent and long sessions of gambling using a smart phone or computer anywhere that there is a mobile 4G or internet connection, connecting to literally hundreds of online gambling sites.
- Gambling companies advertise constantly through all forms of social media, sponsoring top league football clubs and also marketing gambling through sponsorship in motorsport such as Formula 1 and through endorsing celebrities. Legislation of sports betting has significantly expanded gambling options
- The encouragement to gamble by offering “free spins” or bet £10 and get a £50 bonus; or playing a poker tutorial where you win then going on to play a real game online where funnily enough you lose money.
- Using online gambling aps to collect and store personal data. These are now able to tailor a gambling experience to individual users that will allow the odd win to encourage the person to continue gambling but with the consistent end result of losing.
- People may see gambling as the answer to their financial crisis as there is, through the constant marketing in all forms of media, a perception that gambling can be a way to quickly gain money.
- Ultimately the truth is that they will find themselves in deeper financial hardship leading to depressive episodes and even suicidal ideation and it is proven that Gambling addiction or Gambling disorder plays a role in literally hundreds of deaths in the UK each year.
NICE guidelines are now, at long last, advocating various options to help those struggling with a gambling addiction. These include identification, assessment and management with advice from gambling helplines; psychosocial interventions; online self-help forums and intensive residential gambling treatment in an addictions unit where the use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT has proven to be very effective. NICE are also advocating for an increase in the available help that can be provided by the NHS but there is an acknowledgement that this will have an impact on the already stretched service the NHS provides. There are also free support groups through Gamblers Anonymous – a local meeting can be found by inputting your post code into their website. People are encouraged to attend these meetings as another means of support.
Research and studies have shown that the huge increase in gambling advertising, literally encouraging people to gamble, has been linked with the sharp rise in the number of people suffering from a gambling addiction. Gambling dependency has a devastating impact on someone’s life affecting their mental health, finances, work and relationships with family and friends. Across Europe there are now bans and restrictions in place to try and stop encouraging people to “have a go.” However, in the UK which has the most lenient regulations for gambling advertising, the Government has not acted in the same way. Research shows that there has been a constant rise in the gambling operators’ annual spend since 2017 when this was estimated at £1.5 billion. One staggering fact is that in September 2024, during one weekend of the premier league football season, fans were subjected to nearly 30,000 gambling messages – a 165% increase on the previous year.
Aside from the recent NICE survey which highlights the increasing problem with gambling addiction, GambleAware have, for a long time, been lobbying the government to introduce more regulations that would clearly help to reduce the number of people that are being encouraged to gamble. It is time that the government listened.