GambleAware, the UK’s leading responsible gambling charity, has released its annual statistics for the period between April 1st 2023 and March 31st, 2024. These statistics show an increased number of people looking for support, with over 10,000 people receiving treatment from the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN).
Breaking Down The Numbers
The report showed that a total of 10,754 people received care through the NGSN. The company breaks this down into three different sectroes. Tier two shows early intervention and support programs and initiatives, tier three involves one-to-one treatment and therapy, and tier four is the most specialised treatment and often involves someone staying at a facility.
Of the three tiers, tier three was the one that treated the most number of cases, with 6,931 people receiving support and then not requiring any sort of escalation. The total for tier two support was 3,921 people, and the number of people entering into tier four was 532. There was also a record number of people reaching out requesting support for others, with 15% of tier-two requests being on somebody’s behalf.
The numbers highlighted that males aged between 30-39 were the most at risk, with over 70% of those seeking help being male.
Positive Steps
GambleAware launched new strategies in 2023, and the organisation is proud to see they have a had a positive impact. Anna Hargrave, GambleAware Chief Commissioning and Strategy Officer explained that there was an increased focus on early interventions and that they were working closely with local authorities and communities to help reduce stigma and barriers to accessing treatment.
Hargrave said ““Not only have we reached more people, we have been able to identify and support people at a much earlier stage and that is part of the reason why we have seen an increase in people receiving treatment and support.”
This new approach is proving to be incredibly effective. 95% of the people that completed treatment reported an improvement, with the rate of problem gambling falling from 87% to 10%.
