GambleAware report finds problem gambling risk highest for 18-20 year-olds

The risk of becoming a problem gambler is higher between the ages of 18 and 20, a new GambleAware report has suggested.

The report, carried out by University of Liverpool Management School professors David Forrest and Ian McHale, said most young individuals becoming problem gamblers at this age exhibited no previous signs of the disorder.

The study analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which includes information on gambling from 14,000 families and young people between the ages of 17 and 20, along with other social and health information. All participants were given a standard problem gambling severity index test (PGSI).

At age 17, 1.4% of young people tested were experiencing at least a moderate level of harm, according to their scores on the PGSI, while at age 20, two-thirds of these individuals were registering lower PGSI scores and about one-quarter seemed to show no sign of gambling problems.

In the intervening years between testing at 17 and 20 years of age, the rate of moderate harm or problem gambling as defined by the PGSI more than tripled to 4.6% of individuals. The research states that the “risk of developing gambling problems is high during the early years of exposure to the full range of legal gambling opportunities.”

“Associated harm may be lasting because early adulthood is the critical stage at which education and training defines career paths for the future and often it is also the time for forming long-term relationships.”

Clare Wyllie, Director of Research & Evaluation at GambleAware said: “this research highlights the need for specific interventions for young adults at the point they are exposed to the wide range of opportunities to gamble legally. While family influence is important, it also likely that in young adulthood we need to look for influences and risk factors outside of the family.”

For 20-year-old males, the probability of regular gambling is higher where the father had or may have been a problem gambler. However, for 20-year-old females, there is no correlation between parental problem gambling and a propensity for regular gambling.

To address this Professor David Forrest, professor of economics, University of Liverpool believes that operators monitoring players should “adopt lower thresholds to trigger intervention where the customer is under 21.”

Forrest added: “Regulators might introduce additional provisions to Codes of Practice to require operators to be particularly rigorous in their duty of care to young customers.”