Problem Gambling in Jersey

Introduction

This paper brings together relevant information on problem gambling in Jersey. There is little data specific to Jersey, but relevant UK and Guernsey statistics and analysis can be drawn on.

Summary

• If the UK experience applies in Jersey, 500 people experience problem gambling, nearly 4,000 gamble at elevated risk and around 7,000 people are negatively affected by someone else’s gambling.
• The direct cost to the Government of harmful gambling in Jersey is probably around £1 million and the societal value of health impacts is equivalent to between £1.5 million and £2.1 million.
• Evidence from Guernsey suggests that the prevalence of problem gambling is nearly twice as high as in the UK. If the position in Jersey is nearer to that of Guernsey, then the adverse effects are much higher. Similarly, problem gambling is much higher in the Isle of Man than in the UK.
• Gambling in Jersey is regulated by the Gambling (Jersey) Law 2012. The Jersey Gambling Commission is the regulator.
• Around 200 people “self-exclude” from gambling premises.
• The Channel Islands Lottery includes scratchcards, which are widely available at supermarkets and smaller shops across the Islands and are often available at the counter. The Lottery clearly constitutes gambling and is as relevant to at-risk and problem gambling as other forms of gambling, but is exempted from the gambling legislation.
• There is limited help for those with problem gambling.
• The Chair of the Jersey Gambling Commission has repeatedly said that gambling is a serious problem in Jersey and that insufficient attention is paid to it.
• The first Jersey public health strategy, published in March 2023, is silent on gambling. This is not because the issue is not understood by the Director of Public Health but rather because there are other priorities.
• If it is wished to do more to tackle problem gambling then the first stage should be to undertake a more detailed analysis than has been possible in this note and use this to develop a strategy, drawing on the experience of Guernsey and other jurisdictions. Any strategy will require more funding than is currently available.
• Two specific policy issues are whether the Channel Islands Lottery should continue to be exempted from gambling legislation and the need for a treatment service on-Island.

The extent of problem gambling in the UK

There is an excellent analysis of the extent of problem gambling in the UK – a report by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and Public Health England Gambling-related harms evidence review: summary published in 2023. Key points from this report -

• 0.5% of the population experience problem gambling, a proportion that has remained relatively constant since 2012.
• 3.8% of the population are classified as gambling at elevated risks, meaning they might experience some level of negative consequences due to their gambling.
• The highest rates of gambling participation are among people who have higher academic qualifications, people who are employed, and among relatively less deprived groups. People who are classified as gambling at elevated risk levels and experiencing problem gambling are typically male and in younger age groups. The socio-demographic profile of gamblers appears to change as gambling risk increases, with harmful gambling associated with people who are unemployed and among people living in more deprived areas. This suggests harmful gambling is related to health inequalities.
• Around 7% of the population of Great Britain (adults and children) were found to be negatively affected by someone else’s gambling. Affected others are more likely to be women. The most severe impacts of problem gambling were felt most by immediate family members. Almost half (48%) of people who were affected by a spouse or partner’s gambling reported a severe negative impact. This was followed by people affected by the gambling of a parent (41%) and the gambling of a child (38%).
• Risk factors for subsequent harmful gambling among children and young people include: impulsivity (a cognitive trait), substance use (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illegal drugs), being male and experiencing depression.
• Harms are financial, relationship, mental and physical health, employment and education, criminal and anti-social behaviour, cultural harm.
• The annual excess direct financial cost to government associated with harmful gambling is equivalent to £412.9 million and the annual societal value of health impacts is equivalent to between £635 million and £1,355.5 million (in 2021 to 2022 prices). This provides a combined estimate of approximately £1.05 to £1.77 billion. This is likely to be underestimated due to a lack of available evidence.
• The evidence suggests that harmful gambling should be considered a public health issue because it is associated with harms to individuals, their families, close associates and wider society.

Evidence from Guernsey

In April 2023 the Government of Guernsey published athereport A health impact assessment of the effect of gambling on Guernsey in 2019 by the Public Health Institute of John Moores University, Liverpool. This is a detailed study, much of which is probably relevant to Jersey. The Government press release on the report is appended to this paper.

There is a specific section dealing with problem gambling -

Amongst Guernsey adults, 6.7% were identified as at risk gamblers and 0.9% as problem gamblers. Prevalence of at risk gambling was higher among males (9.0%) than females (4.5%) and amongst 18-24 year olds (18.9%) with prevalence decreasing with age. The prevalence of poor health indicators increased with the severity of gambling, with problem gamblers reporting higher poor general health, low mental wellbeing and higher emergency department attendance, higher mental health/counselling services access, higher risk drinking, financial problems, violence victimisation and violence perpetration than non-problem gamblers.

The report includes a detailed comparison with the Isle of Man and the UK. 6.7% and 0.9% of adults in Guernsey were classified as at-risk and problem gamblers respectively, compared to 3.5% and 0.5% of adults from a 2016 Great Britain survey. There was also a significant difference in prevalence of problem gambling between the Guernsey sample and the Isle of Man 2017 sample equivalent, with a higher proportion of non-problem gamblers in Guernsey but the prevalence of problem gamblers was higher in Guernsey than the Isle of Man (0.9% v 0.7%).

The general conclusion is that the “at risk” and problem gamblers proportions are twice as high in Guernsey as in the UK.

Evidence from the Isle of Man

The Public Health Institute of John Moores University, Liverpool also was commissioned by the Isle of Man Government to study gambling there. Its report Isle of Man Gambling Survey 2017 made the following key points –

• 76% of adults had participated in gambling in the previous 12 months.
• Participation in gambling decreased with age from 81.6% amongst 18-24 year olds to 46.6% amongst those aged 65+ years.
• 8.5% of adults were classed as at-risk gamblers and 0.8% of adults were classed as problem gamblers. These proportions were considerably higher than the UK figures for 2015.
• The highest levels of at-risk gambling was amongst males aged 18-24 years. The highest levels of problem gambling was amongst males aged 35- 44 years.
• There was an incremental increase in the prevalence of poor health indicators and health harming behaviours with an increase in the severity of gambling problems.

An important general conclusion was that “there was a significantly higher prevalence of at-risk and problem gamblers in the Isle of Man 2017 survey than the equivalent UK 2015 survey”.

Problem gambling in Jersey based on the UK evidence

There is no evidence to suggest that problem gambling in Jersey is more or less prevalent than in the UK. However, if the UK experience applies equally to Jersey that would suggest –

• 500 people experience problem gambling and nearly 4,000 gamble at elevated risk.
• Around 7,000 people are negatively affected by someone else’s gambling.
• Harms are financial, relationship, mental and physical health, employment and education, criminal and anti-social behaviour, cultural.
• The direct cost to the Government of harmful gambling is around £1 million and the societal value of health impacts is equivalent to between £1.5 million and £2.1 million.

If the Guernsey position applies in Jersey then these figures would be nearly doubled. The Guernsey report makes no attempt to make a comparison with Jersey, the only reference to Jersey is that scratch card sales were 32% higher in Guernsey than in Jersey in 2016 notwithstanding Guernsey’s much smaller population.

Jersey legislation

The Jersey Gambling Commission website helpfully sets out the legal provisions governing gambling –

There are two main pieces of legislation covering gambling in Jersey:

• the Gambling Commission (Jersey) Law 2010, which governs the work of the Commission;
• the Gambling (Jersey) Law 2012, which covers the legal position on gambling regulation.

There are also two sets of key Regulations:

• the Gambling (Charitable and Membership Gambling Services) (Jersey) Regulations 2012, which cover charitable, social and membership gambling;
• the Gambling (Ancillary Services and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Regulations 2012, which cover the provision of gambling services to other businesses.

It is important to note that the Channel Island Lottery is exempt from Regulation by the Commission and remains under the responsibility of the States Department for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture.

Jersey statistics

The Gambling Commission’s 2022 report showed that at the end of 2022 the Island had 4 Class I Bookmakers, operating 20 shops and 78 machines, and 45 pub machines operating across 30 pubs and clubs. However, much of the gambling is by the internet for which no data are available.

There are no data on problem gambling in Jersey. The Jersey Household Expenditure Survey does show figures for expenditure on gambling. In brief in 2021/22 –

• On average, households spent £1.10 a week on gambling – 0.12% of total expenditure.
• The proportions were highest for those in the lowest income quartile (0.21%), social renters (0.21%), 45–54-year-olds and 65+(0.16%) and lowest among the highest income quartile (0.06%), owner-occupiers with mortgages (0.06%) and the 16-34 age group (0.04%). However, the small sample size means that all these figures should be treated with caution.

The Jersey figures are very similar to those for the UK. However, these averages are fairly meaningless in respect of measuring problem gambling.

The annual reports of the Jersey Gambling Commission report “self-exclusions”, that is people who take the initiative to stop gambling and sign a statement with an operator noting their desire to stop gambling which the operator is contractually bound to honour. In the “terrestrial gambling estate” (bookmakers’ premises) there were 209 self-exclusions in place during 2022, a decrease from 321 in 2021 (206 in 2020). However, there is significant double counting in this figure. There were 128 ‘new’ self-exclusions made over 2022 (95 in 2021), with 55 returning to gambling after the self-exclusion period lapsed.

The Channel Islands Lottery

The Channel Islands Lottery is the oldest lottery in the British Isles, beginning in 1975. It is operated in Guernsey by the States Trading Supervisory Board and in Jersey through the Department for the Economy. Scratch cards were introduced in 2011 and are widely available at supermarkets and smaller shops across the Islands and are often available at the counter. The Lottery clearly constitutes gambling and is as relevant to at-risk and problem gambling as other forms of gambling. That scratch cards can be bought over the counter and that retailers are incentivised to sell them means that the Lottery cannot be ignored in any analysis of problem gambling.

In Guernsey scratch cards and lottery tickets are the most common forms of gambling and are used by over 90% of problem and at-risk gamblers. The John Moores University report commented –

Furthermore, analysis of scratch card revenue for Guernsey and Jersey demonstrates that sales of scratch cards in Guernsey were higher than Jersey every year since 2013 (data to 2021). A large proportion of stakeholders felt scratch cards were particularly problematic in Guernsey and that this was facilitated by easy availability and accessibility. They also felt the high levels of scratch card use encourages gambling behaviours and that these activities could normalise gambling amongst families, social groups and society. This conclusion is supported with the finding that place of birth was significantly associated with scratch card use and was higher amongst adults born in Guernsey compared to those born elsewhere. Critically, analysis of scratch card revenue suggests a year-on-year increase in scratch card sales since 2013 (data to 2021).

And in its conclusions the report said –

Critically, more than any other type of gambling activity, scratch card use was significantly associated with a range of poor health indicators including poor general health, low mental wellbeing, being overweight or obese, regular GP visits, mental health/counselling service attendance, poor diet, daily tobacco smoking, financial problems, and violence perpetration. Whilst these are cross-sectional associations and thus causation cannot be established, they have some crucial implications for policy and practice. Specifically, the associations with health service use may provide opportunities for screening for scratch card use and provide opportunities for support and intervention. This is important due to the range of poor health and social outcomes associated with scratch card use, some of which may be a direct factor associated with use (e.g. financial problems), whilst others may represent an indirect association (financial problems mediating link to mental health problems).

The Lottery has recently commissioned Island Global Research to do a research project on safer gambling. The quantitative research has now been completed and focus groups are being held to add qualitative analysis. The resultant report should be a valuable addition to the available research on gambling issues in Jersey.

Problem gambling support in Jersey

The Jersey Gambling Commission has a webpage of resources to help people with gambling problems.

The website Gambling Therapy is dedicated to Jersey residents. Gambling Therapy is part of the UK Gordon Moody organisation, a charity that specialises in residential care for problem gamblers. Staff and trained counsellors from Gambling Therapy have visited Jersey a number of times.

All licensees are required to pay into a Social Responsibility Fund, which is used for research, education, information, prevention, treatment, counselling or other measures to support vulnerable people from addiction and other forms of harm associated with gambling. Specifically, the Fund meets the costs of the Gambling Therapywebsite as well as published material distributed to public-facing licensees as well as radio and print media. However, the Fund is limited. The Commission’s report states that “it is not sufficient to undertake, support or deliver significant long-term projects, such as delivery of an on-Island treatment and counselling service”. In 2022 contributions to the Fund totalled £14,399 and expenditure was £12,156. The fund balance at the end of the year was £129,511.

There is a recognition that what is available is not sufficient. In his foreword to the Gambling Commission’s 2021 Annual Report the Chair of Commission, Advocate Cyril Whelan, said –

With depressing regularity I look back on the previous year, and find little improvement in the delivery of specialist problem gambling treatment in the Island. As a regulator, the Commission cannot deliver such services itself, yet we continue to raise the profile of this important issue……

Starkly, we are discussing a condition which is known to cost lives, but which receives insufficient attention. We continue to learn that addictions are not a simple matter of personal choice, but a response to a complex web of personal experiences. Gambling addiction needs to be further de-stigmatised so that all those affected by it feel able to step forward and get help. This will require the provision of a treatment service in Jersey. A service which does not currently exist, but which could do so if the funding initiatives of the Commission were to be underwritten – not paid – by government. The provision of this sort of guarantee by government and the unlikely need for eventual contribution have been researched and costed by the Commission, and early approaches to government are planned.

The Chair was slightly more optimistic in his 2022 Report -

Government is now making progress in dealing with mental health issues in the round and is also positive that gambling disorder should sit within that space and be treated as such. This is extremely welcome news and cannot arrive too soon. That said, the Commission is well aware that the health service is responding to a level of challenges around funding, provision of a new hospital, recruitment and retention of staff and so on. Delivery of a government service, even if on the cards, will not be provided quickly. It is for this reason that the Board of Commissioners is seeking to undertake a pilot study to ascertain if a third-party provider might be engaged in the short- term. This cannot be guaranteed, but it is certainly something that the Commission would like to explore, so that those local people needing help to overcome their issues with gambling can be given real hope that change is on the way.

The Chief Executive’s report expanded on the issue of specific assistance -

Unfortunately, the provision of specific assistance within the Island remains dependent upon an increasingly constrained public health service and consequently the Commission believes that engaging with an external provider provides the best likelihood of future delivery. To that end the Commission is looking at likely funding streams required to ensure the set-up of such a service.

In considering options for funding it is worth noting that in Guernsey in 2020, the Social Investment Fund was introduced. This included changes to the allocation of lottery proceeds, allowing the Policy and Resources Committee to allocate funding to the Social Investment Fund and to support individuals experiencing gambling problems locally.

Jersey public health strategy

The Director of Public Health 2022 annual report Jersey’s big health and wellbeing conversation and the 2022 The Jersey Health Profile were silent on gambling other than a comment in the former from the public survey: “respondents have described concern about how many betting shops there are and the amount of gambling going on. Particularly, within the middle-class professional sector.”

Seizing the Opportunity – the population health prevention strategy 2023-2027 and the accompanying Population Health Action Plan (2023-27)do not mention gambling. This is not because they are not understood by the Director of Public Health but rather because the public health strategy is new to Jersey and there are other priorities.

Possible policy interventions

This paper is high level and it would not be appropriate to make detailed policy recommendations. However, it is worth noting the recommendations in the John Moores University report on Guernsey as they may well have some applicability to Jersey -

• Improve screening for at risk and problem gambling across the system (frontline staff)
• Enhance the current support that is available for at-risk and problem gamblers in Guernsey
• Raise awareness about the support that is available for people at risk of and experiencing problem gambling in Guernsey
• Provide school-based education and awareness raising about the risks of problem gambling
• Educate parents about the risks of problem gambling
• Deliver targeted interventions, in particular, consider the places where those who are at-risk go and provide messages about how to recognise problem gambling and where to go for support (e.g. workplaces and nightlife environments).
• Ensure gambling services and support are accessible and equitable
• Develop clear pathways of support to accredited agencies for gambling support services.
• Review policy and legislation, particularly on availability and accessibility of scratch cards and advertising environments or gambling availability that increases the risk of harm.

One specific point, drawing on the Guernsey evidence, is that the Channel Islands Lottery generally, and scratch cards in particular, are a form of gambling that lends themselves to harm and that therefore they should not be exempted from gambling legislation. The Guernsey experience also suggests that the Lottery proceeds can legitimately be regarded as a source of funds for addressing the issue of problem and at-risk gambling.

A second specific point is that there is a clear need for a treatment service on-Island.

Conclusions

This brief note is sufficient to suggest that problem gambling in Jersey is a serious issue and that not enough is being done to address it. If it is wished to do more to tackle the issue then the first stage should be to commission a more detailed analysis than has been possible in this note, in particular drawing on the experience of Gambling Therapy and the Gambling Commission and also the results of the research that has recently been commissioned by the Channel Islands Lottery. This should be built on to develop a strategy, but with an understanding that implementing any strategy will require more funding than is currently available.

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Appendix – Guernsey Government press release on the Health Impact Assessment Of The Effect Of Gambling On Guernsey In 2019

A pre-pandemic Health Impact Assessment (HIA) about gambling in Guernsey showed a higher proportion of those surveyed locally participated in one or more gambling activity in the previous year compared to neighbouring jurisdictions.

It found that 79.9% of Guernsey survey respondents had gambled compared to 75.9% in the Isle of Man and 57% in Great Britain. The highest gambling activity was the Channel Islands Christmas Lottery, followed by scratch cards.

The report, published on this page, was commissioned in 2019 and produced by the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). It was asked to assess the health impact on the Guernsey population in relation to gambling.

Research has shown that recreational gamblers are more likely to report poor physical and mental health and increased risk of health risk behaviours such as nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorder and substance use. From a Bailiwick perspective further evidence was needed to, a) understand the prevalence and types of gambling in Guernsey; b) assess the impact on health and wellbeing, and c) assess support available for at-risk and problem gamblers.

The team at the Public Health Institute, LJMU, used a mixed-methods approach to complete the HIA. This included a postal survey of a representative sample of the Guernsey population; a collation of qualitative (i.e. verbal) information obtained by interviewing stakeholders including those who run support services, and gamblers themselves in Guernsey; and a stakeholder workshop.

The research was carried out between September 2019 and February 2020, soon after which the COVID-19 pandemic significantly delayed the review and finalisation of the report.

Key findings from the HIA were:

• That the overall prevalence of any gambling activity was higher in Guernsey than in Isle of Man and Great Britain. 79.9% of Guernsey survey respondents had participated in one or more gambling activity within the past 12 months. By comparison, the figures were, for IOM 2017 75.9% and for Great Britain 2016 57%;
• Those who had gambled had a significantly higher prevalence of indictors of poor health compared to non-gamblers. These included higher rates of overweight/obesity, regular GP visits, tobacco smoking, binge drinking, violence victimisation and violence perpetration;
• The highest gambling activity was the Channel Islands Christmas Lottery (with 67.5% having participated including some below the legal age limit of 18);
• The second highest activity was purchase of scratch cards. This was an area where Guernsey gambling habits were found to differ starkly from comparison populations. 46.3% had purchased scratch cards in Guernsey, compared to 29.3% in Isle of Man and 21% in Great Britain —differences that are statistically significant. Analysis of scratch card revenue shows that sales of scratch cards have increased year on year and were higher in Guernsey than Jersey in every year since 2013 (data up to 2021). Scratch card use was found to be associated, more than any other gambling activity, with poor health indicators including poor general health, low mental wellbeing, living with excess weight/obesity, regular GP visits, mental health/counselling service attendance, poor diet, tobacco smoking, financial problems and violence perpetration.
• Most people who gamble do so without it being problematic. However, among Guernsey adults, 6.7% were identified as 'at-risk' gamblers and 0.9% as 'problem' gamblers. At-risk gambling was more prevalent among males (9.0%) than females (4.5%) and amongst 18-24 year-olds (18.9%) with prevalence decreasing with age. The prevalence of poor health indicators increased with the severity of gambling;
• The gambling landscape is changing and gambling activity is notably different for younger and older people in Guernsey. In-game purchasing (e.g. of loot boxes) as well as scratch card use were identified via survey results and stakeholder feedback as areas of concern among young gamblers. Without intervention the 18.9% of at-risk gamblers in the 18-24yrs group may become the problem gamblers of the future.
• Support services for at risk and problem gamblers require enhancement and pathways for accessing support need to be developed and communicated to stakeholders so that everyone understands what services are available and how to access them.

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