Gambling and the Cost of Living Crisis: A Perfect Storm in the Making

“If I was awake, I was gambling,” says Nathan, 24 (who asked to remain anonymous to protect his identity). “It didn't matter what it was: The Grand National or looking to back the winner of Love Island… You’re not annoyed to be skint, you’re annoyed because you can’t gamble anymore. I think we get addicted to losing.”

Nathan’s experience is not unique. Gambling is now everywhere. From Drake sharing Instagram stories of his astronomical bets, to betting operators tapping into influencer marketing, gambling has rebranded itself as an integral part of modern culture. And in a cost of living crisis where inflation is at a 40-year high, young people are being increasingly drawn to desperate measures, gambling for a lucky win that might change their fate.

The UK is home to one of the world’s largest gambling markets, with a total gross gambling yield of £14.1 billion in 2020. Online gambling ads have aided this boom, with young people at increased risk of being drawn into a vicious cycle of betting addiction. Research from the University of Bristol found that 72.4 percent of 18-24 year olds said they saw gambling ads on their social media at least once a week.

Tom, 26 – also not his real name – is now gamble free, but estimates he has lost over £30,000 to the habit in the past. He’s seen relationships breakdown because of it. “I once won £4,000 in around 20 minutes playing roulette in the bathroom whilst my partner was asleep,” he says. “I have wrecked friendships through these lies; and by borrowing money that [I had] no way of paying back.”

In a time of economic crisis, when pockets are stretched to make ends meet, you might expect people to gamble less, but the opposite is true. Why does this happen?

Most studies into gambling make a distinction between skill-based and luck-based gambling. Skill-based is the type you see in casinos, or betting on sports results, whereas luck-based gambling includes things like lotteries, scratch cards and bingo.

When we are thrown into unexpected economic conditions, studies have shown that more people start to turn to luck-based gambling. A recent American study on the relationship between gambling and recessions found that lottery consumption outperforms any other sector in terms of growth.

Matt Zarb-Cousin is a campaigner and the co-founder of GAMBAN, an app which blocks access to gambling sites on your phone. He believes the rise of gambling addiction is down to a lack of protection and support for vulnerable people.

“I think it’s the same reason there are more gambling premises in deprived areas,” he says, “and why online gambling losses are disproportionately impacting poorer regions.”

“When people can’t make ends meet they turn to short-term lending and gambling. So, without regulation in place that adequately prevents harm, online gambling will only make the coming recession worse.”

For many, betting feeds an endless cycle, offering the gambler endless opportunities to try again from what feels like scratch. As Nathan told VICE: “Gambling is something you don’t depend on, but it offers hope that there’s something to make you happy.”

Just last month, a white paper on gambling reform – which aims to implement desperately needed restrictions on the industry – was delayed for the fourth time. Zarb-Cousin believes that the government is not doing enough to protect people. “It’s the first time in human history that technology has enabled addictive gambling products to be available on devices people carry with them everywhere,” he says.

Dr Rossi is a lecturer at the University of Bristol, and the author of numerous studies on the effects of gambling on young people. “One of the key issues is that due to the on-going development of the brain until the age of around 25 years, children and young people tend to experience more intense urges, but the ability to resist is not yet fully developed, resulting in more emotionally driven and impulsive behaviour – all of this makes them more prone to gamble and indeed, more likely to develop gambling problems.”

For some people, the COVID-19 lockdown offered the opportunity to reset their relationship with gambling. As Tom, who has been gambling since the age of 16, told VICE: “Personally, lockdown was a good thing for me. I had self-excluded from all online gambling sites through GAMSTOP [a free service that restricts access to betting websites], so the only way that I was able to bet was in a bookies. Lockdown, of course, meant that they were closed.”

But what has followed the pandemic can arguably be characterised as a relapse for many. Nathan says: “[During the pandemic] there was no sport for 3 or 4 months, so when it was back it was like gung ho. I went from strategically picking horses each day to gambling on every single race and could never break that habit again.”

Rossi believes that the pandemic’s negative impact on young people's mental health combined with an opportunistic gambling industry has fuelled the current gambling epidemic, creating what he calls the perfect storm.

“During the lockdowns we saw a 50 percent increase of gambling advertising on social media… I think if you now add to this to a very hard two years during the pandemic, [plus] financial hardship because of the cost of living crisis and the possibility to gamble 24/7 from your iPhone – you might have really created a perfect storm.”

Tom’s experience seems to reinforce Rossi’s theory. “I haven't bet for over a year now, but the cost of living crisis has made the temptation ever greater,” he says. “I am struggling to manage finances, and the potential to make enough to cover ever rising-bills and debts [by betting] is very appealing.”

The effects of gambling addiction are not equally shared across society. Research shows that people from deprived areas are more likely to place risky long-odd bets and lose money in online casinos. Of those who gamble, the most disadvantaged groups also witness the highest levels of harmful gambling.

“Gambling is just part and parcel of the daily life of working class men of my age,” says Tom. “The sports we love are plastered in gambling adverts, the group chats we are in are full of screenshots from Twitter showing a huge win by someone we don't know. And meeting with friends in the pub at the weekend often leads to a ‘cheeky bet’.”

But these cheeky bets and their addictive nature have real life consequences. A Public Health England study published in September 2021 estimated that there were more than 409 suicides in England associated with problem gambling that year.

Movements like Clean Up Gambling and organisations like Coalition Against Gambling Ads are currently campaigning for the gambling industry to introduce affordability checks, which might reduce the risk of harm, especially for poorer communities. At a time where more than 1 in 5 people in the UK are living in poverty, intervention is essential. For now, says Tom, “I am trying to be kinder to myself and recognise that this is a powerful industry that is built upon exploiting people and making us miserable.”

The cost of living crisis is pushing people to desperation. A bit of extra cash can be the difference between being able to afford the weekly food shop or turning to a food bank for support. Without real government protection, the gambling industry will continue to exploit vulnerable people, at a time when the risk of poverty is even more adverse.

@adelewalton121