UK Gambling Problem Speculation Way Off According to Study

The highly anticipated results of the extensive UK Gambling Prevalence Study were released yesterday and the percent of problem gamblers, the study concluded, were dramatically lower than expected.

Since the UK enacted their law last month, which legalized online gambling, Gordon Brown, and really the rest of the world - especially the United States who is paying close attention to this issue - were waiting to see the results of this study.

The study looked at every aspect of gambling, including how a person bets, what they bet on, what games they play, how much they spend, how often they play, and more.

On Monday, articles were written in several respected newspapers across the world, including one on Casino Gambling Web, predicting that the number of people with gambling problems was going to have doubled as concluded by the study.

The study, however, concluded the exact opposite. Instead of the 600,000 people analysts predicted the study would reveal have gambling problems, the study found the actual number to be closer to 250,000.

The study found that for every 9,000 people just 0.6% were regarded as problem gamblers, which compares to 0.8% when the previous Gambling Prevalence Study was carried out in 1999.

The 0.6% findings are slightly higher the Harvard University study of over 40,000 gamblers that found only 0.4% of gamblers develop problems.

The results of the UK and Harvard University studies will be strong sets of proof for pro-gambling groups who wish to show that expanded gambling will not harm the people as much as anti-gambling groups wish that it would.

September 19, 2007
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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