TLDR
- Nearly 1 in 11 UK adults (around 1.6 million people) experienced harm from someone else’s gambling in 2024
- 73.7% of those affected reported at least one health consequence, with stress and anxiety being the most common
- Young women were disproportionately affected, making up 55% of the “affected others” group
- Only 14.5% of affected individuals sought help in the past year despite widespread harm
- The UK government has allocated £25.4 million to gambling-harm prevention services
The Gambling Commission has published new data showing that nearly one in 11 adults in Great Britain were harmed by someone else’s gambling during 2024.
The findings came from analysis of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain 2024. The survey gathered responses from 19,714 adults aged 18 and older.
Health and Relationship Consequences Top the List
According to the data, 48% of adults said someone close to them gambles. Around 9% of all adults, roughly 1.6 million people, said they experienced at least one negative consequence from another person’s gambling in the past 12 months.
Of those affected, 5.3% reported severe harms. A further 19% reported at least one potential negative consequence.
Health-related harms were the most common. Some 73.7% of those affected experienced at least one health consequence tied to another person’s gambling.
Stress and anxiety were the most reported specific harms at 57.9%. Shame or embarrassment followed at 52%. Increased conflict or arguments came in at 45.4%.
Relationship harms were reported by 65.3% of those affected. Financial and resource harms were reported by 42.5%.
More than one in four affected individuals, about 26.6%, reported at least one severe harm. These included relationship breakdowns, large financial losses, violence or abuse, and criminal activity.
Among severe cases, 74.3% cited relationship breakdown as a consequence.
Young Women and Problem Gambling Overlap
The data showed that younger women were more likely to be in the affected group. Women made up 55% of those harmed by others’ gambling. People aged 25 to 44 made up 46% of the group.
Some 63% of affected individuals had also gambled themselves in the past year. That is slightly higher than the 60% gambling rate in the general adult population.
Among affected others who also gambled, 21.5% scored in the problem gambling range on the Problem Gambling Severity Index. That compares to just 4.5% among all gamblers, a near five-fold difference.
This group was also more engaged in higher-risk gambling activities. Their participation in in-person betting on events was nearly 3.7 times higher than other gamblers.
Despite the widespread harm, only 14.5% of affected individuals sought help in the past year. Those who gambled themselves were more likely to seek support at 18.3%, compared to 7.7% among non-gamblers.
People who did seek help accessed mental health services, welfare support, relationship counselling, and gambling-specific services.
Data from UK charity GamCare showed 1,954 people used its Money Guidance Service in 2025 after gambling losses. That was more than double the 923 recorded the previous year.
The Gambling Commission said its analysis used new consequence-focused questions on the survey. These questions expanded understanding beyond the traditional Problem Gambling Severity Index framework.
The Commission said affected others are not one uniform group. Many are active gamblers themselves, living in households or social networks where multiple people gamble.
The Commission has planned further qualitative research to explore these experiences in more detail.
The UK government recently announced £25.4 million in funding for gambling-harm prevention services. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport said the grants will support prevention strategies across the country.
